A short kids’ adaptation aside, Rufus Norris was the first artistic director of the National Theatre to not programme a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at all: it’s been 15 years since Rory Kinnear took on the role for Norris’s predecessor Nicholas Hytner. But new NT boss Indhu Rubasingham isn’t messing around, and her deputy Robert Hastie’s production is her first piece of programming in the Lyttelton. Hiran Abeysekera – best known for his Olivier-winning turn in the Hastie-directed Life of Pi – will take on the mantle of Shakespeare’s Great Dane. We don’t know a huge amount about the production beyond that, though the initial publicity images suggest a certain amount of irreverence, while the 7.15pm start times suggest it’ll be long, but maybe a bit clippier than the average Hamlet.
Joining Abeysekera in the cast will be Phil Cheadle, Ayesha Dharker, Tom Glenister, Hari
Mackinnon, Francesca Mills, Alistair Petrie, Siobhán Redmond and Geoffrey Streatfeild.
