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Under its outgoing artistic director Rupert Goold, Islington’s Almeida Theatre went from chintzy backwater to arguably the most influential theatre in the country, launching numerous West End transfers as it helped to break the careers of some of the most influential writers, directors and actors in the country.
Goold was always going to be a tough act to follow, but fortunately his successor is about as qualified as artistic directors get: Dominic Cooke ran the Royal Court Theatre at the zenith of its twenty-first century period of influence (with mega-smashes Jerusalem, ENRON and Clybourne Park are taking place on his watch), while his subsequent career has seen him largely direct massive scale West End fair, with his most recent hit being the RSC’s Game of Thrones play The Mad King (coming to London in 2027).
Now Cooke has loosely announced his first year of programming – and while there’s a distinct break from the Gooldian pizzazz, there’s some superb looking stuff here.
First things first: Cooke is pals and a long-term collaborator with Caryl Churchill, the visionary writer who easily constitutes Britain’s greatest living playwright. Cooke’s next project is next month’s revival of her breakthrough Cloud 9 at the NT and a few weeks ago it was announced that – in a sneak peek of his first season – a new short play by Churchill called Triumph would play at the Almeida from this week. Now Cooke’s debut season goes one better and provides us with a full-length new Churchill play as its opener.
Well, kind of: Three and a Bit (Jan 14-Mar 13 2027) follows Churchill’s recent-ish Royal Court shows Love + Information and Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. in being an anthology of new short works. And we know almost nothing about it: there is a very cryptic description – ‘Go on then. You’re sure you want to? I want to see if you can because I’m sure you can’t’ – and we know it’s being directed by her long-term collaborator James Macdonald. One might guess that there are three (and a bit?) plays. Beyond that, no idea: it would seem logical that Triumph might be included but there’s no indication that’s the case. Whatever, a new Caryl Churchill play is always a remarkable event and at 88 she absolutely does not have to be doing this – we should savour it.
Next up, Cooke has tapped writer-director Alexander Zeldin to revive his landmark ‘Inequalities’ trilogy. Beyond Caring, LOVE and Faith, Hope and Charity (Mar 22-May 22 2027) will play a rep season with some days where it’s possible to see all three shows. Originally debuting at the Yard Theatre and then the National, Zeldin made his name with these three plays about a declining England being held apart by goodwill alone in the age of austerity. It’ll be fascinating to see them with some distance from the Cameron era, but they’re unquestionably Zeldin’s greatest works and the chance to see them again is very enticing.
The summer of 2027 will see Cooke make his debut as director during his own tenure (and also hints The Mad King will not come around until autumn unless they can sneak it into the start of next year). He’ll be directing a new dark comedy called Musculus (Jun-Jul 2027) by Jamie Bogyo, which follows a sophisticated modern couple who proudly defy gender stereotypes until the world they’ve built up around them starts to fall apart.
Playwright Chris Bush was a semi-regular during Goold’s tenure and she returns with the eye-catching The Right Woman (Aug-Sep 2027). A drama about the struggles of a Labour’s first female PM, its big thing is having a first half that’s the same every night followed by an audience vote, which will result in one of three possible second halves. Sophir Drake directs.
Goold’s tenure was famous for his associate directors Robert Icke and Rebecca Frecknall, who have both gone on to be major forces in UK theatre. Goold’s associate will be Ola Ince, whose first show will be a revival of the great South African playwright Athol Fugard’s The Island (Oct-Nov 2027), a drama about apartheid-era two inmates passing time in a notorious South African prison (based on Robben Island).
After that, Sacha Wares will direct an production of Terrance Rattigan’s classic The Winslow Boy (Dec 2027-Jan 2028), about a father who fights for his son’s name to be cleared – Wares is quite an experimental director and we’re promised the play will have ‘an ensemble of riotous young musicians demanding to be heard’.
We’ve heard nothing about casting for any of these shows, but Cooke shows us the Almeida can still command a big name with the final piece of programming. In early 2028, he will direct David Tennant in a revival of John Osborne’s landmark 1957 play The Entertainer, a dark satire on the death of imperial Britain that was originally written for Laurence Olivier. Tennant will step into his shoes, playing Archie Rice, a washed-up, rancorous vaudeville entertainer.
You can imagine it’s possible there might be some additions to the programming along the way, and certainly we’re due a lot of cast announcements. But there we have it: the Almeida’s future is finally here.
Three and a Bit and The Inequalities trilogy will go on sale October 27 at noon.
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