Hampstead Theatre today announces a full season of eight new productions beginning on 7 September 2023 and running until 16 March 2024.
A new season at Hampstead Theatre is upon us; eight brand new productions, three of which are world premieres, and a UK premiere, of which the organisers are very proud to present.
Hampstead Theatre’s Producer and Chief Executive Greg Ripley-Duggan said “We’re thrilled that, after all the challenges we have had to face in the last few months, we are able to bring together eight fantastic writers and seven brilliant directors in a programme of plays that has Hampstead Theatre’s DNA running right through it."
The programme for autumn 2023 marks a new future for Hampstead Theatre following Arts Council England’s decision to cut its NPO grant by 100%. Hampstead’s future and renewed commitment to present ambitious original work will be driven by ticket sales, commercial income and philanthropic support.
Have a look at the schedule below:
Hampstead Upstairs
anthropology
By Lauren Gunderson - Directed by Anna Ledwich
7 September – 14 October 2023 - Press Night: Monday 18 September
A Sillicon Valley software engineer digitally recreates her missing sister through the virtual fragments left behind, forming a massively intriguing and relevant commentary on online identities and our codependence with internet technology, as well as the burgeoning presence of AI.
San Francisco-based Lauren Gunderson is one of the world’s most produced playwrights; her I and You was a huge success at Hampstead in 2018. Author of over 20 plays, Lauren has also received the Lanford Wilson Award at the Dramatists Guild Awards and two Steinberg/ATCA New Play Awards.
To Have and To Hold
By Richard Bean - Directed by Richard Wilson
20 October – 25 November - Press Night: Thursday 26 October
In Richard Bean's brand new work, a bickering old couple have elevated the art of moaning to high art in a witty comedy dealing with the difficulties of managing aging parents.
The playwright Richard Bean is widely known for international smash-hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors, and returns to Hampstead after successes with Kiss Me and In the Club. Work elsewhere includes Jack Absolute Flies Again (National Theatre), Young Marx (Bridge) and Made in Dagenham, The Musical (Adelphi).
Rock ‘n’ Roll
By Tom Stoppard - Directed by Nina Raine
6 December – 27 January - Press Night: Tuesday 12 December
It's the late 60s, the Cold War is fully underway, and a visiting postgrad returns from Cambridge to his native Prague with a suitcase full of "socially negative music". Rock ’n’ Roll covers the ensuing 21 years in the lives of three generations of Max’s family while Jan is caught in the spiral of dissidence in a Communist police state.
Tom Stoppard returns to Hampstead after the triumphant revival of Hapgood (2015). Winner of eight Evening Standard, three Olivier and five Tony Awards, Stoppard’s plays include Leopoldstadt; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Arcadia.
Double Feature
By John Logan - Directed by Jonathan Kent
8 February – 16 March - Press Night: Monday 19 February 2024
A recreated Suffolk cottage on a Hollywood set becomes the site of a tense power-game, while an actual Suffolk cottage too becomes the site of a similar kind of conflict. Aptly named Double Feature, this play comes with two parallel stories for the price of one set.
John Logan is an American playwright and screenwriter. His other work includes the Tony Award-winning play Red (West End and Broadway); Peter and Alice (West End); the book for Moulin Rouge (West End, Broadway, International); and screenplays including The Aviator, Skyfall and Gladiator.
Hampstead Downstairs
Octopolis
By Marek Horn - Directed by Ed Madden
15 September – 28 October - Press Night: Monday 25 September
An accomplished behavioural biologist and an ambitious antropologist are testing new hypotheses on Frances, a captive octopus, to test the limits and extents of octopus' intelligence. However, the nature of the antropologists assignment are world-bendingly shocking, a venture into the unknown.
Marek Horn’s plays include Wild Swimming (Edinburgh Fringe and Bristol Old Vic) and Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse). Octopolis is directed by Ed Madden and is his second collaboration with Marek.
Nineteen Gardens
By Magdalena Miecznicka - Directed by Alice Hamilton
3 November – 9 December - Press Night: Thursday 9 November
Two years after the end of their affair, both John and Aga have tried to fill the void left by each other's absence. Yet, both recognise the spark between them, and the dangling questions remains: Will they rekindle what they had, or is an altogether darker game about to be played out?
The author of several novels in Polish, Miecznicka is also a journalist and literary critic. Now based in London, Nineteen Gardens is her first play. Alice Hamilton is Hampstead Theatre’s Associate Director. Her credits include the Downstairs productions of Every Day I Make Greatness Happen and Paradise, and The Dumb Waiter and The Memory of Water on Hampstead’s Main Stage.
This Much I Know
By Jonathan Spector - Directed by Chelsea Walker
13 December – 27 January - Press Night: Tuesday 19 December
Lukesh, a tenured psychology professor, has his logical little life unravelled by his wife leaving with minimal explanation. He eventually discovers she has embarked on a spiritual odyssey, criss-crossing Russia and uncovering a richly tapestried family history.
This Much I Know is his most recent play and won the 2023 Glickman Award and also the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award for Best New Play. Chelsea Walker returns to Hampstead to direct following her acclaimed Hampstead Downstairs production of Yous Two.
Out of Season
By Neil D’Souza - Directed by Alice Hamilton
16 February – 23 March - Press Night: Thursday 22 February
Three former jack the lads take a middle-aged nostalgia trip to Ibiza, determined to take it back where it started despite bad backs, extended hangovers, and familiar humiliations. Neil D’Souza’s razor-sharp comedy picks over the gulf between past aspirations and present realities - how we can come to terms with the past and find a way to face the future.
D’Souza’s other plays include Small Miracle (Colchester) and Coming Up (Watford). The aforementioned Alice Hamilton has her other play, Nineteen Gardens, playing at Hampstead Downstairs. Out of Season is a T. S. Eliot Foundation commission.