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After two years of its blockbuster Ballet Shoes, this winter will see the National Theatre stage a massive new Christmas show in the form of The Jungle Book.
It is, of course, a fresh version of Rudyard Kipling’s beloved short story collection about the adventures of the literally raised-by-wolves Mowgli. The most famous incarnation of the story is, of course, Disney’s classic 1967 animated film which was remade into a live action version in 2016.
This new stage version comes from Indian playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar, who previously gave the National Theatre a stonking hit with her Gandhi play The Father and the Assassin. We’re promised some fairly major changes here, with the action explicitly relocated from central India to the Sundarbans mangrove swamps of the Ganges Delta (that now straddle India and Bangladesh). You can also be fairly certain that the imperialist undertones of the source material are liable to receive some degree of interrogation, though one also imagines that Chandrasekhar will be pretty playful about it if The Father and the Assassin is anything to go by. It’s also the case that Kipling’s original Jungle Book was a cycle of short stories that weren’t all adapted by Disney, so the playwright could be fairly faithful while taking quite a different route here.
Really, the main thing you need to know is it’s a new stage outing for Mowgli, Baloo, et al and that you can imagine that Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell’s large scale animal puppets will be jolly spectacular, as, doubtless, will be Rajha Shakiry’s mangrove forest sets. It’s aimed at families aged seven-plus.
The show will reunite Chandrasekhar with The Father and the Assassin’s star – Hiran Abeysekera, the NT’s recent Hamlet – and its director, National Theatre boss Indhu Rubasingham.
The Jungle Book is at the National Theatre, Olivier, Nov 13-Feb 6 2027. Tickets will go on sale at noon on Mar 26.
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