Donmar Warehouse Announces 2015 Spring Season - Revival of CLOSER, World Premiere & More!

Artistic Director Josie Rourke today announced a Spring season of work including the revival of Patrick Marber's 20th Century classic Closer; a new play for theatre and television by James Graham, The Vote; and the world premiere of Temple, a new play by Steve Waters.

A revival of the Olivier award-winning play Closer by Patrick Marber, directed by David Leveaux and starring Nancy Carroll, Oliver Chris, Rufus Sewell and newcomer Rachel Redford.

Following their collaboration on Privacy in 2014, Josie Rourke and James Graham will reunite for The Vote - in partnership with Channel 4. Following a limited run at the Donmar, The Vote will be broadcast live and in real time on More4 on the night of the general election, 7 May 2015 at 8:30-10pm - taking the play directly into living rooms around the UK at exactly the same time as the action is set.

Howard Davies will direct Simon Russell Beale in Steve Waters' new play Temple, a fictionalised account inspired by the events that took place during the 2011 Occupy demonstration outside St Paul's Cathedral.

Phyllida Lloyd's acclaimed production of Henry IV will follow its run at the Donmar with a week's residency at Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets this December.

Artistic Director Josie Rourke said: 'I am delighted to announce a new season for 2015 that includes the return of two directors and a playwright with deep-rooted connections to the Donmar. David Leveaux - a former Associate Director - who has assembled a terrific cast for the first London revival of Patrick Marber's award-winning play Closer. Howard Davies, another important figure in the Donmar's history, who ran the theatre when it was the RSC's new writing studio in the late 1970s, will direct Temple, a new play by Steve Waters. Following our collaboration on Privacy, James Graham and I will reunite for a bold experiment, centred around the May 2015 General Election. The Vote will be broadcast on television, live and in real time on election night in partnership with Channel 4.'

The first play in the Donmar's 2015 Spring season will see David Leveaux direct Patrick Marber's Closer which on its premiere in 1997 won the Olivier, Evening Standard and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play, and later became a hit film in 2005. David Leveaux's production will star Nancy Carroll as Anna, Oliver Chris as Dan, Rachel Redford as Alice and Rufus Sewell as Larry.

Patrick Marber, writer of Closer said: 'I'm thrilled to be returning to the Donmar with this revival of Closer. David Leveaux is a director I've longed to work with for many years. I'm greatly looking forward to this collaboration with him, his production team and the exceptional company of actors he's assembled.'

Following their celebrated collaboration on Privacy, James Graham and Josie Rourke will reunite for The Vote. Set in a fictional polling station, the play will be screened live and in real time on election night during the last 90 minutes of the poll. It will use cutting edge fixed rig technology to bring the production into homes across the UK on More4 on the last night of its run at the Donmar.

Kate Pakenham, Donmar Executive Producer said: 'It's so exciting to have Josie and James reunite to create another incisive and urgent play for our times. Equally, we're thrilled to be working in partnership with Channel 4 to realise our ambitions around this production - a broadcaster whose creativity and innovation reflects perfectly the Donmar's own values. This partnership will enable us to broaden the reach of the play, bringing the Donmar into living rooms all around the UK live and in real time on the night of the election, in a first for British theatre.'

Channel 4's Commissioning Editor of Arts - John Hay said: 'Channel 4 arts programming is all about collaborating with artists who can offer us new perspectives on contemporary social and political issues, so this is a perfect project for us. The use of the rig, and the creation of a moment when the drama exactly parallels real life, promise a ground-breaking piece of event television. We're very excited to be working with the Donmar on it.'

Howard Davies will direct Steve Waters' new play Temple, a fictionalised account of the events that took place during the 2011 Occupy demonstration outside St Paul's Cathedral. Simon Russell Beale returns to the Donmar having previously starred in The Philanthropist, Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya (for which he won the 2003 Olivier Award for Best Actor) to play the Dean. Temple takes us to the heart of a very British crisis - a crisis of conscience, a crisis of authority, and a crisis of faith.

Steve Waters, writer of Temple said: 'I am really excited to be returning to the Donmar with Temple, over a decade since I was last here with World Music directed by Josie Rourke. It's one of my favourite theatre spaces, with its combination of intimacy and the epic ideally suited to the play'

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