The European premieres of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 and David Yazbek and Itamar Moses’ Tony-winning The Band’s Visit are among the additions to the Donmar Warehouse's 2022 season, which also includes the previously reported U.K. premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole, directed by Nadia Latif in April.
Also joining the lineup are the U.K. premiere of Dawn King’s The Trials; Silence, a first-time co-production with Tara Theatre; and the free exhibition WE. BLACK WOMEN., curated by Donmar Associate Artist Joan Iyiola, which will run alongside Marys Seacole.
Olivier winner and Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) will head the cast of Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2, which will play the London venue June 10-August 6. Directed by James Macdonald, the production will also have designs by Rae Smith and lighting design by Azusa Ono. The Tony-nominated play, which earned Laurie Metcalf her first Tony in 2017, picks up where Ibsen’s revolutionary masterpiece left off.
Natalie Abrahami will direct King's The Trials, which will be presented August 12-27. Set in the near future as the climate crisis is unfolding and the current generation is being judged, the production will feature young performers alongside adult actors to be announced. The creative team also includes designer Georgia Lowe, lighting designer Jai Morjaria, sound designer and composer Xana, and associate director Joseph Hancock with sustainability consultants Julie’s Bicycle.
Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din, and Alexandra Wood's Silence, adapted from Kavita Puri’s Partition Voices: Untold British Stories, will play the Donmar September 1-17. Directed by Abdul Shayek, this new play, focused on communal storytelling, presents a shared history inspired by the testimonials of people who lived through the last days of the British Raj and the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan that saw millions uprooted and resulted in unspeakable violence.
The Band's Visit, featuring a score by Yazbek and a book by Moses, will follow, running September 24-December 3 under the direction of Michael Longhurst, recently represented on Broadway with the revival of Caroline, or Change. Orr Benezra-Segal is the associate director for the production with Dr. Lina Khatib as the cultural consultant. Winner of 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the story follows a group of musicians from Israel who become lost upon their arrival in Egypt.
Additional casting and creative team members will be announced for the productions.
WE. BLACK WOMEN., a free exhibition curated by Donmar Associate Artist Iyiola that shifts the perspective of British history by putting the collective experiences of Black women at the center of the conversation, will be presented in the Donmar’s foyer spaces beginning May 6.
Featuring Sheila Atim, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Joyclen Buffong, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Noma Dumezweni, Dr Christine Ekechi, Decima Francis, Akua Gyamfi, Naomie Harris, Afua Hirsch, Joan Iyiola, Anaya Kamara, Faith Locken, June Nicol-Dundas, and Susan Wokoma, the exhibition is presented in partnership with Apatan Productions and also has photography by Myah Jeffers and Helen Murray and cinematography by Stephen Ofori.
Michael Longhurst, Donmar Artistic Director Michael Longhurst says, "In a deeply conflicted world, this season celebrates the power of connection to change and heal. Familial, generational, religious, historic—the divisions that sit under these works hold up our need to find and celebrate our shared humanity.… It is such a joy to see our theatre full again, with audiences enjoying our recently refurbished spaces. Please do join us for more important stories, thrillingly told."
