The National Theatre is to stage a spectacular, true-life Slumdog Millionaire play, set in a squalid backwater of Mumbai.
Award-winning playwright David Hare has adapted Katherine Boo’s acclaimed, prize-winning non-fiction book Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity.
It will be staged in the National Theatre’s Olivier auditorium in autumn 2014 by director Rufus Norris, using all the behind-the-scenes firepower the NT can muster to bring the swarming, stinking slum scattered around Sahar international airport in Annawadi to bustling, vibrant life.
It’s a staggering undertaking, but the NT has proven — particularly under the reign of artistic chief Nicholas Hytner — that it wants to develop dangerous, edgy, challenging fare.
Indeed, the NT’s board has made it clear that they want Hytner’s successor in 2015 to deliver more of the same.
They are not seeking a safe pair of hands. To show how big they were thinking, they went after Stephen Daldry, but he’s not available.
The Beautiful Forevers is like Oliver Twist, full of fascinating characters who duck and dive their way through life.
There are three main storylines in the Annawadian narrative: the family involved in recycling all the rubbish that is dumped; the student hoping to kiss the slums goodbye; and a couple who are into any shenanigans going, whether that be slum politics or hanky-panky.
The National Theatre at the South Bank, London, will undertake the staggering challenge to bring the book to lifeOther figures on the sidelines are equally compelling.
When you read through the book you almost have to hold your nose because Boo’s prose is so powerful you can smell the open sewers and ponds of untreated human and petro-chemical waste. Yet far from being depressing, the result is somehow life-affirming.
More... BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Michelle Williams sets sail for her own Bali HaiHare, I’m told, has plucked out the most interesting characters and built the play around them. Casting won’t begin until early next year.
Hytner approached Hare 18 months ago, hoping to get him to write a play to mark his final season. The playwright has been penning dramas for the NT ever since he wrote Plenty for them in 1978.
A musical stage version of Danny Boyle¿s film Slumdog Millionaire is being developed, but it¿s still several years awayHis last play on the South Bank was political drama The Power Of Yes three years ago.
Hare joined forces with U.S. producer Scott Rudin, one of the forces behind The Book Of Mormon, and brought Boo’s book to Hytner at the National.
The theatre confirmed to me that The Beautiful Forevers will be part of its £12-a-ticket Travelex season next year.
A musical stage version of Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire is being developed, but it’s still several years away.
New turn for Pike as she heads north Rosamund Pike will team up with David TennantRosamund Pike (right) and David Tennant will head north next month, playing a couple going through marital discord as they travel from their home ‘down South’ to visit relatives in Scotland.
What We Did On Our Holiday shoots through June and July.
Billy Connolly also stars in the picture, directed by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (the team behind the hit TV series Outnumbered) for BBC Films.
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The National Theatre’s political powerhouse of a play This House, about the phoney war between Labour and Tory whips in 1974, has become such a hit that it’s transferring to the West End.
In James Graham’s play, both sides become bogged down in a war of attrition when they stop co-operating on major issues.
It makes for gripping theatre.
Julian Wadham, Phil Daniels and Reece Dinsale are members of the troupe who will move to the Aldwych Theatre — toppling Top Hat — in September for a 16-week season.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical, Stephen Ward, will start previews at the Aldwych soon after This House’s run.
Son of Les Miserables lyricist shines The LA-based teen is making movies alreadyAdrien Boublil is a ‘school of life kind of guy... the idea of sitting in a classroom to learn how to make a film doesn’t make sense’.
Adrien, 18, the son of Les Miserables lyricist Alain Boublil, was an intern on a number of films, including Woody Allen’s film To Rome With Love.
He has directed an accomplished 17-minute film called Yelo — a psychological study of a young man’s relationship with his mother — that will be shown at Cannes.
The LA-based teen told me his next film will be named after his philosophy: I’m A School Of Life Kind Of Guy.
He should pick up a few lessons next week when he’s in Cannes.
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The owners of the Piccadilly Theatre, where Viva Forever! is playing its final weeks until June 29, have gone into quick-step mode to find a replacement.
The touring production of Dirty Dancing, based on the Patrick Swayze film (you’ll find it in Woking until May 18) will move into the Piccadilly from July 13 for a limited run until February. Tickets go on sale on Monday.
No word yet on whether the touring cast will come into town or if they’ll re-cast some parts. And I hear there’s already a show waiting in the wings to take over from DD.
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Trevor Nunn explores the clash of cultures between movie stars and, well, normal people, in Noel Coward’s Relative Values which will feature Katherine Kingsley as the ‘star’ in question, with Patricia Hodge, Rory Bremner and Caroline Quentin. The show runs at the Theatre Royal, Bath from June 12.
