Theatres - Olivier Theatre

Currently Showing (return to list of shows)

Welcome To Thebes ( Olivier Theatre ) - Play

Faced with an impoverished population, a shattered infrastructure and a volatile army, the first democratic president of Thebes, Eurydice, promises peace to her nation. Without the aid of Theseus, the leader of the vastly wealthy state of Athens, she doesn't stand a chance. But Theseus is arrogant, mercurial and motivated by profit. A swaggering opposition circles, impatient for insurrection. The body of the former dictator lies unburied. A boy soldier is carelessly murdered. Set in the present day, but inspired by ancient myth, Moira Buffini's Welcome to Thebes offers a passionate exploration of an encounter between the world's richest and the world's poorest countries set in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Fela! ( Olivier Theatre ) - Musical

A provocative and wholly unique hybrid of dance, theatre and music, FELA! explores the extravagant, decadent and rebellious world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Using his pioneering music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), FELA! reveals Kuti's controversial life as an artist and political activist. Featuring many of Fela Kuti's most captivating songs and Bill T. Jones' visionary staging, FELA! - an original new creation - comes via Broadway to London and the National Theatre. Produced in association with Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glazer, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment and with Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson.

Danton's Death ( Olivier Theatre ) - Play

1794: the French Revolution reaches its climax. After a series of bloody purges the life-loving, volatile Danton is tormented by his part in the killing. His political rival, the driven, ascetic Robespierre, decides Danton's fate. A titanic struggle begins. Once friends who wanted to change the world, now one stands for compromise the other for ideological purity as the guillotine awaits. A revolutionary himself, George B?er was 21 when he wrote the play in 1835, while hiding from the police. With its hair-raising on-rush of scenes and vivid dramatisation of complex, visionary characters, Danton's Death has a claim to be the greatest political tragedy ever written. Howard Brenton captures B?er's exhilarating energy as Danton struggles to avoid his inexorable fall.

Olivier Theatre

National Theatre, Upper Ground SE1 9PX