Fraser and Craig Confirmed For CITY OF ANGELS As Donmar Announces New Season

Artistic Director Josie Rourke today announced three new productions: My Night With Reg; Henry IV and City of Angels.

Robert Hastie directs the 20th anniversary production of My Night With Reg by Kevin Elyot. This production, the first on the London stage since 1995, will feature Matt Bardock, Jonathan Broadbent, Richard Cant, Julian Ovenden, Lewis Reeves and Geoffrey Streatfeild.

In the second of what is announced as a trilogy of ground-breaking Shakespearean productions following Julius Caesar in 2012, Phyllida Lloyd returns to the Donmar with a new all-female production of Henry IV with cast including Jade Anouka, Clare Dunne, Ashley McGuire and Harriet Walter.

This Christmas, Josie Rourke will revive the 20th century classic musical City of Angels starring Samantha Barks, Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser.

As the company moves into its new base at Dryden Street a new role of Trainee Artistic Director is announced alongside two Artist in Residence roles.

Artistic Director Josie Rourke said: 'Following the success of The Weir, we're continuing our revivals of twentieth century classics with the 20th anniversary production of Kevin Elyot's comedy My Night With Reg. Following this, we are hugely excited to announce that Phyllida Lloyd's production of Henry IV will mark the second instalment in a trilogy of prison Shakespeares. During one of the education workshops around Phyllida's production of Julius Caesar, teachers heard one of their students, a girl, speak for the first time. We, and Phyllida, knew that the important journey of this work could not end there. This trilogy of productions will ask 'who owns Shakespeare' and continue to open up our national playwright to those who have been denied him through gender, heritage or class. Our Christmas show,City of Angels is one of the great jazz musicals. I am delighted to be bringing this shimmering, sexy show to the Donmar's stage. Three months ago, the company moved into a new home that - for the first time - puts rehearsals, the office, and our education work into the same building. To reflect this extraordinary opportunity for the Donmar, we are introducing the new post of Trainee Artistic Director. This annual role is a chance for directors with aspirations to lead theatre companies and buildings to gain unique insight into the day-to-day running of a building. It is vitally important that the industry continues to create opportunities to train the next generation of talent.'

The Donmar Warehouse today announces its next season of work. Current Trainee Associate Director Robert Hastie will direct the 20th anniversary production of Kevin Elyot's Olivier and Evening Standard award-winning play My Night With Reg. The comedy is set in London's gay community in the summer of 1985 against the back drop of the mounting AIDS crisis. Hastie's production will star Julian Ovenden as John. He will be joined in the cast by Matt Bardock as Benny, Jonathan Broadbent as Guy, Richard Cant as Bernie, Lewis Reeves as Eric and Geoffrey Streatfeild as Daniel.

Premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2012, Phyllida Lloyd's all-female production of Julius Caesar sparked fierce critical and public debate both in the UK and in New York where it transferred in 2013 for a sold out run at St Ann's Warehouse. The Donmar is delighted to announce a second production in what will become an epic trilogy of shows all of which will challenge the notion of who owns Shakespeare. Once again her cast will feature Harriet Walter as King Henry, Jade Anouka as Hotspur and Clare Dunne as Hal. The cast will also include Ashley McGuire as Falstaff. The production will develop and enhance what was begun with Julius Caesar in a series of Education and Outreach projects. The company will work extensively with twenty schools, run over 75 workshops as well as offering £5 tickets to over 500 young people. The Donmar and Clean Break Theatre Company will work together on a series of workshops around the production.

Following the huge success of her current production of James Graham's Privacy, Artistic Director Josie Rourke will direct the first major revival of Cy Coleman's classic musical City of Angels as the Donmar's 2014 Christmas production. City of Angels with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart (Tootsie and M*A*S*H), premiered on Broadway in 1990 and in the West End in 1993. It won both the Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best New Musical, along with multiple other prizes. Featuring one of the great jazz scores, City of Angels is a celebration of film noir and Hollywood in black & white and colour. Rourke's production will star Hadley Fraser as Stine, returning to the Donmar after his role in Rourke's 2013 production of Coriolanus, and Rosalie Craig, who will make her debut at the theatre and will play Gabby/Bobbi. Fraser and Craig will be joined in the company by Samantha Barks as Mallory/Avril. Olivier Award-winner Stephen Mear will choreograph the production.

The Donmar has for many years run one of the most successful training schemes for young directors in its Resident Assistant Director role. Previous incumbents include current Artistic Director Josie Rourke, Rupert Goold, Sasha Wares and Charlotte Westenra. In recognition of the move into the company's new base at Dryden Street, in which rehearsal room, office and education space can be under one roof for the first time, the Donmar have inaugurated a second training position, the Trainee Artistic Director. The role has been created to train the Artistic Directors oftomorrow, offering exceptional insight into the programing, funding and running of a theatre building and company. Applications for the post will open this summer.

Alongside this development the Donmar Warehouse today also announces the appointment of two resident artists for Donmar Dryden Street. Nick Payne, whose The Same Deep Water As Me at the Donmar was nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2014 Olivier Awards, will become Writer in Residence. Michael Bruce will continue in his role as Composer in Residence. Bruce's work at the Donmar includes current production, Privacy, as well as Coriolanus, The Machine (Manchester International Festival/Park Avenue Armory, New York), Trelawny of the Wells and Berenice.

Donmar Dryden Street will also allow the Donmar to extend its Education programme with a goal to double the number of people taking part over the next three years. The Tomorrow Project, the theatre's new programme for local schools, will run for the second year in 2014-15, alongside an increased programme of work accompanying Donmar productions for schools and young people. This season will see over 1,000 young people seeing a Donmar production for £5 or less, and over 300 performing on the Donmar stage as part of our Education programmes.

The Donmar Warehouse is delighted to confirm that Barclays will continue to support the ground-breaking scheme Barclays Front Row, which offers front row tickets for each performance at the Donmar for just £10. Each Mondaymorning at 10am over 300 tickets are released for sale in the front row of both stalls and circle for a week's worth of performances two weeks later. Since it began, we have sold over 21,000 Barclays Front Row tickets with almost 50% of ticket buyers being first time visitors to the Donmar.

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