Sam Mendes-Helmed King Lear, Tori Amos Musical The Light Princess & More Set for National Theatre Season

The National Theatre’s 2013 season will include The Light Princess, a new musical by Tori Amos; King Lear, starring Simon Russell Beale and helmed by Sam Mendes; The Amen Corner, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Sharon D. Clarke; a new version of Maxim Gorky’s Children of the Sun and more. The season kicks off in London on February 5 with The Captain of Kopenick, starring Antony Sher.

Skyfall, American Beauty and Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes will return to the National Theatre to helm a new production of King Lear at the Olivier Theatre. Simon Russell Beale is set to star in the title role. The duo, who have been collaborators for over 20 years, are reuniting for the first time at the National Theatre since their 1997 production of Othello. No exact dates or additional casting have been announced.

Tori Amos' long-awaited musical The Light Princess, featuring a book and lyrics by Samuel Adamson, will open at the Lyttelton Theatre in October. The musical tells the story of a princess who is cursed with no gravity, unless she comes into contact with water. When she falls in love with a prince who meets her while swimming, her spiteful aunt sets out to take away all of the water in the kingdom. Rosalie Craig and Clive Rowe are set to star in the show, which is directed by Marianne Elliott. No exact dates have been set.

Directed by Howard Davies, the new adaptation of Gorky’s Children of the Sun by Andrew Upton begins performances on April 9 at the Lyttelton Theatre. The cast includes Lucy Black, Matthew Flynn, Florence Hall, Paul Higgins, Gerald Kyd, Emma Lowndes, Maggie McCarthy, Justine Mitchell, Rhiannon Oliver and Geoffrey Streatfeild.

Othello, a previously announced production starring Adrian Lester in the title role and Rory Kinnear as Iago, begins performances April 16 at the Olivier Theatre. The cast also includes Jonathan Bailey (Cassio), William Chubb, Lyndsey Marshal (Emilia), Tom Robertson, Nick Sampson and Olivia Vinall (Desdemona). The production will be directed by National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner.

Additionally at the Olivier Theatre, Carl Zuckmayer’s The Captain of Kopenick begins performances February 5, featuring Antony Sher and directed by Adrian Noble. After a run at the Cottesloe Theatre, This House will transfer to the Olivier on February 28, with Reece Dinsdale, Phil Daniels, Charles Edwards, Vincent Franklin and Julian Wadham. The Amen Corner, directed by Rufus Norris and featuring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Sharon D. Clarke is scheduled to open in June. Emil and the Detectives, by Erich Kastner and adapted by Carl Miller, is set to open in November, directed by Bijan Sheibani.

Additionally at the Lyttleton Theatre, Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude will feature Anne-Marie Duff and Charles Edwards. Simon Godwin is set to direct. In August, a new version of Luigi Pirandello’s Liola by Tanya Ronder will be directed by Richard Eyre. Melly Still will direct Georg Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight in a new version by Dennis Kelly. No exact dates for these productions have been set.

At the Shed, a temporary space in Theatre Square, Table by Tanya Ronder and directed by Rufus Norris will open in April, Bullet Catch, written and performed by Rob Drummond will open in May, Mission Drift, directed by Rachel Chavkin, will open in June, Home, devised and directed by Nadia Fall will premiere in August, nut, a written and directed by Debbie Tucker Green will open in November, The Elephantom, based on the book by Ross Collins, adapted by Ben Power, is set to open in December, a new play by Tim Price is scheduled to open in December, and a new play by Nick Payne is set for early 2014.