Alex Lawther, Doon Mackichan, Paul Ready and Sophie Rundle will lead the cast of Nina Raine and Moses Raine’s Summerfolk, which opens at the National Theatre in March 2026.
A razor-sharp portrait of class, privilege and denial, it is directed by Robert Hastie.
It’s a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia’s elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs. When they’re having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can’t shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time. As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?
The full cast includes Lawther as Vlass Mikhailich, Mackichan as Kaleria, Ready as Sergei Vassilich Bassov and Rundle as Varvara Mikhailovna, with Rebecca Banatvala as Sasha, Thomas Barrett as Maxim Zimin, Tamika Bennett as Sonya, Pip Carter as Pavel Sergeyich Ryumin, Peter Forbes as Semyon Semyonich Dvoyetochiye, Brandon Grace as Nikolai Petrovich Zamislov, Arthur Hughes as Pyotr Ivanich Suslov, Sam Jenkins-Shaw as Kropilkin, Gwyneth Keyworth as Olga Alekseyevna, Daniel Lapaine as Yakov Petrovich Shalimov, Adelle Leonce as Yulia Filipovna, Justine Mitchell as Maria Lvovna, Sid Sagar as Kirill Akimovich Dudakov and Richard Trinder as Pustobaika.
Ivan Ivashkin, Aisha-Mae McCormick, Roisin Rae, Ellie Turner and Joe Usher make up the ensemble.
Hastie is joined by set and costume designer Peter McKintosh, lighting designer Paul Pyant, sound designer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, composer Nicola T Chang, movement director Thomas Herron, music director Candida Caldicot, casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor, voice coaches Shereen Ibrahim and Zoe Littleton, associate set designer Joseph Bisat Marshall, and BSL and staff director Lilac Yosiphon.
Summerfolk will run in the National’s Olivier theatre from March 6 to April 29, 2026. Tickets here.
Top image: Summerfolk artwork (image supplied)