As a result of the second national lockdown Hampstead Theatre’s 60th anniversary production of The Dumb Waiter will now run from 3 December 2020 until 16 January 2021
Hampstead Theatre has announced the cast for Harold Pinter’s iconic play The Dumb Waiter. Due to popular demand the production has been extended and will now run from 18 November 2020 until 2 January 2021.
Acclaimed stage and screen actors Alec Newman and Shane Zaza will play the roles of Ben and Gus, respectively, in this 60th anniversary production directed by Alice Hamilton, originally programmed for spring. She is joined by designer James Perkins, with lighting design by James Whiteside and Composition and Sound Design by Giles Thomas.
The Dumb Waiter first premiered as part of Hampstead Theatre’s inaugural season in 1960 directed by Hampstead’s founder James Roose-Evans.
Tickets for the additional performances are now on sale.
Hampstead Theatre will also relaunch its open script submissions, Inspire and youth theatre following the theatre’s COVID-19 closure. These activities have been adapted for online.
Hampstead Theatre’s year-round open script submissions is now back open. The theatre commits to read and respond to any writer who submits a play in the English language. For more information please visit here.
Inspire, the theatre’s year-long writers’ group, led by the award-winning playwright, Roy Williams continues online. This year’s writers are Georgina Burns, Isla van Tricht, Kit Sinclair, Kris Phillips, Lucy Foster, Maatin Patel, Maud Dromgoole, Ollie George Clark, Subika Anwar-Khan and Tariq Jordan. For more information please visit here.
Hampstead Theatre and its Associate Company, Creative Multilingualism have relaunched a free multilingual youth theatre course for 13-17-year olds who speak more than one language. Led by Creative Multilingualism artist, Daniel Tyler-McTighe and Hampstead Theatre’s Resident Assistant Director, Lizzie Manwaring, the participants will meet online and use English and elements of other languages to create work and celebrate the multilingualism of London and the UK. For more information please visit here.
Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of Hampstead Theatre said: “We have been very moved by the extraordinary demand for tickets for The Dumb Waiter. It is a much-needed reminder of how important theatre is as entertainment, as a place that helps us make sense of the world and of ourselves, for our personal and social well-being, and our need for community and communal experience.
As our rehearsal room, workshops and offices start to buzz again in the united endeavour to put on a show, we are acutely aware that our industry is entirely dependent on our freelance creative workforce. They are the life blood of the theatre. By opening our doors, we are not only serving audiences but doing what we can to offer much needed employment. It is, however, a drop in the ocean. We urge the Government to offer a package to freelancers to support them through this pandemic. We can then return even stronger and retain the UK’s position as an international cultural leader. We will need culture more than ever as we leave the European Union, re-evaluate our national identity, and look to attract new investment.
Who knows what the future will bring. What I do know is that there is an abundance of brilliant new theatre talent bursting to be seen and heard, so we are delighted to be re-launching activities to inspire and support the next generation of theatre makers who are so vital to our futures.”
