The Motive and the Cue, a new play by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child's Jack Thorne, is one of three productions just announced for 2023 at London's National Theatre.

Sam Mendes will direct the play, which will open at the Lyttelton in May. Inspired by the making of John Gielgud’s Hamlet, as well as Letters from an Actor by William Redfield and John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton in Hamlet by Richard L. Sterne, the cast will feature Johnny Flynn as Richard Burton, Mark Gatiss as John Gielgud, and Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor with Allan Corduner, Ryan Ellsworth, Aysha Kala, Luke Norris, Michael Walters, and Laurence Ubong Williams.

The Motive and the Cue focuses on Burton, who is newly married to Taylor and set to play the title role in an experimental new production of Hamlet under Gielgud’s direction. As rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. 

The production will also have set design by Es Devlin, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Jon Clark, music by composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound design by Paul Arditti, video design by Luke Halls, casting by Alastair Coomer and Naomi Downham, and associate direction by Zoé Ford Burnett.

In April the Olivier will welcome a revival of Brian Friel's Olivier-winning Dancing at Lughnasa. Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots) will direct a cast that includes Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls), Ardal O’Hanlon (Father Ted), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Translations), Louisa Harland, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Justine Mitchell, and Alison Oliver.

Set during harvest time in 1936 County Donegal, Dancing follows the five Mundy sisters, who battle poverty to raise seven-year-old Michael and care for their Uncle Jack. 

The creative team also includes set and costume designer Robert Jones, lighting designer Mark Henderson, choreographer Wayne McGregor, composer Hannah Peel, sound designer Emma Laxton, video designer Douglas O’Connell, and casting director Alastair Coomer.

Opening in the Dorfman in April will be Deborah Bruce's new play Dixon and Daughters, a co-production with Clean Break, which produces theatre with and about women affected by the criminal justice system.

Gate Theatre Artistic Director Róisin McBrinn will direct the production, about a woman recently released from prison, who spends a tumultuous two days with her family. Alison Fitzjohn, Yazmin Kayani, Andrea Lowe, Posy Sterling, and Liz White will star. 

The production will also have set and costume design by Kat Heath, lighting design by Paule Constable, sound design by Sinéad Diskin, movement direction by Sarita Piotrowski, and casting by Alastair Coomer and Bryony Jarvis-Taylor.

Tickets for Dancing at Lughnasa, The Motive and the Cue, and Dixon and Daughters will go on sale to the general public December 8.

It was also announced that Anupama Chandrasekhar’s The Father and the Assassin will return to the Olivier in September 2023. The play, which traces the life of Nathuram Godse, the journalist and nationalist who later murdered Gandhi, is directed by Indhu Rubasingham. Paul Bazely will again play Gandhi.

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