Donmar Warehouse – The Theatre Playbook

Donmar Warehouse names Tim Sheader new artistic director

The Donmar Warehouse has a new artistic director.

Tim Sheader will take on the role, and that of joint chief executive alongside executive director Henny Finch.

He will take up the role in March 2024, replacing Michael Longhurst and joining from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre where he has been artistic director since 2007.

Sheader has directed more 20 productions at Regent’s Park, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods, Hello Dolly, Crazy For You and Jesus Christ Superstar.

He said: “What an absolute honour to follow in the footsteps of theatre giants and be asked to lead this remarkable theatre. The invitation live performance offers to share a moment in time together has never been more important, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to invite as many different audiences as possible to experience the life enhancing feeling of being in that unparalleled space, where our imaginations can soar and magic happen.

“As the Donmar continues on its path as a financially independent theatre I am very much looking forward to meeting and working with its many loyal members and supporters to create inclusive, accessible and must-see work on and beyond the stage.”

Donmar goes to War with Stephen Campbell Moore, Adrian Scarborough

Jack Thorne’s new play, When Winston Went To War With The Wireless, has secured its leads ahead of its launch at Donmar Warehouse.

Stephen Campbell Moore will play John Reith and Adrian Scarborough will play Winston Churchill in this world premiere by Bafta and Olivier Award-winning Thorne. The play is directed by Katy Rudd (Ocean at the End of the Lane, Eureka Day).

In May 1926, Britain grinds to a halt, as workers down tools for The General Strike. With the printing presses shut down, the only sources of news are the government’s The British Gazette, edited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the independent, fledgling British Broadcasting Company, led by John Reith. What follows is a fierce battle for control of the news and who gets to define the truth.

Campbell Moore’s theatre credits include Berenice at the Donmar, Consent, Clybourne Park, Chimerica, All My Sons and The History Boys. On TV he’s recently appeared in Litvinenko, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, War of the Worlds and The Child in Time.

Scarborough won an Olivier for his performance in Leopoldstadt. His prolific stage career includes Accidental Death of an Anarchist and To the Green Fields Beyond at the Donmar, as well as productions at the National Theatre including After the Dance, The Habit of Art, King Lear and Henry IV Parts I & II. His TV appearances include Bloods, Gavin and Stacey, Sanditon and Killing Eve. Films include Vera Drake and Gosford Park.

The creative team also includes designer Laura Hopkins (Rockets and Blue Lights), sound designers Ben and Max Ringham (Blindness, Prima Facie), lighting designer Howard Hudson (& Juliet, Orlando), movement director Scott Graham (Frantic Assembly, Olivier Award winner for The Curious Incident…), composer Gary Yershon (Art, The God of Carnage) and casting director Anna Cooper.

Donmar welcomes Trouble in Butetown

The Donmar Warehouse will host the world premiere of Trouble in Butetown, with Sarah Parish taking the lead in a show written by Diana Nneka Atuona (Liberian Girl).

In her illegal boarding house in Butetown, Cardiff, Gwyneth Mbanefo (Parish) toils tirelessly to keep afloat. It’s a port town during the war; home to souls from every corner of the globe. When Nate, an African American GI, escapes his barracks and discovers this new world without segregation, can he find safe harbour in Tiger Bay? And with danger on every corner, who can he trust?

Directed by Tinuke Craig (Jitney), the cast also includes Samuel Adewunmi (You Don’t Know Me), Rita Bernard-Shaw (Catherine Called Birdy), Ifan Huw Dafydd (The Crown), Rosie Ekenna (Inside Number 9), Zaqi Ismail (Baptiste), Gareth Kennerley (Othello), Bethan Mary-James (The Meaning of Zong), Nathan Nolan (The Boys in the Band), Ellie-Mae Siame (The Drifters Girl) and Zephryn Taitte (Call the Midwife).

Trouble in Butetown runs from February 10-March 25, 2023, following Lillian Hellman’s thriller Watch on the Rhine, which is currently playing until February 4.

Here’s an introduction to Trouble in Butetown from writer Diana Nneka Atuona…

Marys Seacole at the Donmar Warehouse

Here’s a look at Marys Seacole, which is now on at the Donmar Warehouse until June 4.

Directed by Nadia Latif, it is the UK premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury’s new play, which explores what it means to be a woman who is paid to care and how, ultimately, no-one is in charge of their own story.

Mary Seacole was the pioneering Jamaican nurse who bravely voyaged to heal soldiers in the Crimean War. She was a traveller, a hotelier and a businesswoman. She was the most impressive woman you’ve ever met.

The cast includes Déja J Bowens, Llewella Gideon, Kayla Meikle, Esther Smith, Olivia Williams and Susan Wooldridge.

The design is by Tom Scutt, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yan, sound design and composition by Xana, movement direction by Theo TJ Lowe, casting by Anna Cooper CDG, costume supervision by Lucy Martin, hair and makeup consultation by Dominique Hamilton, voice and dialect coaching by Hazel Holder, dialect coaching by Nia Lynn, fight direction by Kev McCurdy, props supervision by Chris Marcus and Jonathan Hall, associate design by David Allen, assistant sound design by Iman Muhammad, assistant lighting design by Ayana Enomoto-Hurst with Resident Assistant Director Josh Parr.