David Tennant leads revival of John Osborne’s THE ENTERTAINER at Almeida Theatre
Photo credit: Georgia Tennant
The Almeida Theatre has announced Dominic Cooke’s first season as Artistic Director today, including a revival of John Osborne’s The Entertainer starring David Tennant in early 2028.
Don't clap too hard - it's a very old building.
Conflict in the Middle East, the end of an empire and the crumbling of British identity. Behind the faded velvet curtain of a dying music hall, showman Archie Rice is performing a desperate double act: keeping the cheap jokes flowing while his family rapidly unravels. Archie masks his private misery with public glitter, refusing to face the final curtain call.
In his first production at the Almeida, multi-award winner David Tennant takes on Archie in Dominic Cooke’s piercing revival of John Osborne’s modern classic.
Almeida Artistic Director Dominic Cooke said: “Today we announce my first season as Almeida Artistic Director. It brings together four world premieres, ambitious revivals and a landmark co-production. The season explores ideas around a world in crisis and brings together groundbreaking artists whose work I have long admired.
“We begin with Caryl Churchill’s Three and a Bit, a collection of biting short plays directed by James Macdonald. Caryl has shaped British theatre for decades, and she continues to find new ways to surprise us. Her partnership with James is one of the great collaborations in theatre, and it feels right to begin my tenure with their work. My first production as Artistic Director will be Jamie Bogyo’s Musculus, a bold exploration of gender roles in contemporary relationships. We welcome Chris Bush back to the Almeida with The Right Woman, directed by striking young talent Sophie Drake. Chris has written an ambitious, entertaining and formally inventive take on women in politics. It is a privilege to bring these distinctive voices to the Almeida and to give audiences the chance to encounter these works for the first time.
“Alexander Zeldin joins us with The Inequalities, bringing Beyond Caring, LOVE and Faith, Hope and Charity together in repertory for the first time. Seen together, these are contemporary ‘state of the nation’ plays which give voice to those our society often overlooks. I’m proud that this co-production with A Zeldin Company will tour, taking these plays to audiences well beyond the Almeida.
“Alongside all this, we are returning to some extraordinary plays from the past. The iconoclastic Sacha Wares directs Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy, while David Tennant leads John Osborne’s The Entertainer. Written little more than a decade apart, both plays examine Britain’s changing sense of itself, and both feel strikingly alive today. I am curious to see them in conversation with the work of contemporary writers in the season.”
