The Donmar Warehouse's 2011 season listings take audiences, as so often, in unpredictable directions, from the farcical tensions of American competitive spelling to the high tragedy of 18th-century Schiller. Full season guide below.
King Lear, William Shakespeare, 3 Dec-5 Feb, 2011
Derek Jacobi has long had his eye on the title role of King Lear and finally gets to play it under the direction of Michael Grandage, with whom he has worked profitably in Don Carlos and Twelfth Night. Read theartsdesk's Q&A with actor Derek Jacobi.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, William Finn/Rachel Sheinkin, 11 Feb-2 Apr
The hilarious dramas of the final of a national spelling competition made for a 2005 Tony Award-winning musical; a new staging directed by Jamie Lloyd and designed by Christopher Oram (and there's a hilariously addictive website with an addictive spelling game... pictured right)
Moonlight, Harold Pinter, 7 Apr-28 May
A man is dying, his sons are estranged, his wife desperately tries to heal the rifts in time. Directed by Bijan Sheibani, designed by Bunny Christie. One of Pinter's most tragic plays.
Poetry Week with Josephine Hart, 30 May-3 Jun
Hart directs five evening performances by leading actors of poetry by Philip Larkin, John Milton, Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot and World War One poets.
Schiller's Luise Miller, In a new version by Mike Poulton, 8 Jun-30 Jul
When a powerful duke falls in love with a musician’s humble daughter, politics erupt in blood in Friedrich Schiller’s 18th-century masterpiece. Directed by Michael Grandage, with a cast including Felicity Jones (pictured left, seen recently on TV in Northanger Abbey, Doctor Who and Anne Frank).
Anna Christie, Eugene O'Neill, 4 Aug-8 Oct
Jude Law and Ruth Wilson star in Eugene O’Neill’s epic play about love and forgiveness. Exiled from her home by the Old Devil Sea to the inland plains, Anna Christie’s life changed forever at just five years of age. Fifteen years later, she is reunited with the father who sent her away and sets sail in search of a new beginning.
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