Billie Piper Leads Cast Of Richard Bean's GREAT BRITAIN At National Theatre, Opens June 30

GREAT BRITAIN, a new play by Richard Bean, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will open at the National's Lyttelton Theatre on Monday 30 June (which will also be its press night).

Richard Bean's fast and furious new play is an anarchic satire about the press, the police and the political establishment. Billie Piper plays Paige Britain, ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.

Tickets for the first two weeks of performances (until 12 July) go on sale this morning, with the rest of the run (14 July - 23 August) on public sale from 26 June.

The full cast is: Sarah Annis, Ross Boatman, Robert Calvert, Oliver Chris, William Chubb, Dermot Crowley, Jo Dockery, Robert Glenister, Ian Hallard, James Harkness, Scott Karim, Barbara Kirby, Nicholas Lumley, Maggie McCarthy, Iain Mitchell, Miles Mitchell, Aaron Neil, Billie Piper, Nick Sampson, Kellie Shirley, Kiruna Stamell, Harriet Thorpe, Rupert Vansittart, Joseph Wilkins and Andrew Woodall.

Richard Bean's plays for the National include One Man, Two Guvnors, winner of the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best New Play and currently on its third UK tour following runs at the NT, in the West End and on Broadway; England People Very Nice and The Mentalists. His work also includes The Heretic(Evening Standard Award), Harvest (Critics' Circle Award), Honeymoon Suite, Under the Whaleback andToast for the Royal Court (the latter shortly to be revived at the Park Theatre); The Big Fellah for Out of Joint at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour; and the forthcoming Pitcairn for Out of Joint, Chichester Festival Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe. He adapted David Mamet's House of Games and wrote a new version of The Hypochondriac for the Almeida Theatre, and has written the book for the new West End musical Made in Dagenham.

Billie Piper's stage credits include The Effect at the National (Evening Standard and Olivier Award nominations for Best Actress); Reasons to be Pretty (Almeida) and Treats (Garrick). Her television and film credits include Foxtrot, Penny Dreadful, True Love, A Passionate Woman, Secret Diary of a Call Girl,Mansfield Park, The Shadow in the North, Ruby in the Smoke, Doctor Who, Much Ado About Nothing, Bella and the Boys, Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale, Animals United, Spirit Trap,Things to Do Before You're 30and The Calcium Kid.

Since he became Director of the National in April 2003, Nicholas Hytner has directed Henry V, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, Southwark Fair, The Alchemist, The Man of Mode, The Rose Tattoo (with Steven Pimlott), Rafta, Rafta... , Much Ado About Nothing, Major Barbara, England People Very Nice, Phèdre, The Habit of Art, London Assurance, Hamlet, Collaborators, Travelling Light, One Man Two Guvnors, Timon of Athens, People, Cocktail Sticks, Othello and Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage.

The production is designed by Tim Hatley, with lighting by Neil Austin, music by Grant Olding, sound by Paul Arditti and video/projection by Leo Warner.

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