Renowned for its high-quality stage productions, the National Theatre is gearing up for its 50th anniversary, promising to deliver one of its biggest seasons yet.
The recently announced 2013 season kicks off on 5 February with Carl Zuckmayer’s The Captain of Kopenick, starring Anthony Sher and taking over the Olivier Theatre until early April. The key to the Olivier will later be passed on to Sam Mendes, famed director of American Beauty, Revolutionary Road and the latest James Bond flick Skyfall. Mendes will be directing a production of Shakespeare’s King Lear starring Simon Russell Beale in the title role, which is expected to begin next January. Neither Mendes nor Beale are strangers to the National Theatre, or indeed, to each other. The pair has been collaborating on various projects over the last 20 years, and previously worked together on the 1997 National Theatre production of Othello.
