The Motherf**ker with the Hat - National Theatre (Lyttelton)
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
DIRECTED by Indhu Rubasingham, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Motherf**ker with the Hat will receive its UK premiere at the National Theatre, opening in the Lyttelton on June 17, 2015, following preview performances from June 10.
Things are looking up for Jackie. He’s out of jail and staying clean thanks to his sponsor. He might even have found a job. And of course there’s Veronica, whom he’s loved since 8th grade. Nothing could come between them – except a hat.
Steven Adly Guirgis’ play received six Tony nominations on Broadway, where it premiered in 2011. Described as poetic, profane and hilarious, this whip-smart look at love and addiction finds light even in the darkest corners of New York City.
A playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, Stephen Adly Guirgis is a member and former co-artistic director of New York City’s LAByrinth Theater Company. His stage plays include Between Riverside and Crazy, Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and The Little Flower of East Orange.
Indhu Rubasingham is Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre, where her work includes the forthcoming Multitudes; Red Velvet (also New York), Handbagged (also West End: Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre), Paper Dolls and The House That Will Not Stand; and before becoming Director, Women Power and Politics, Stones in his Pockets (also UK tour), Detaining Justice and The Great Game: Afghanistan (also US tour).
Her recent work elsewhere also includes Ruined (Almeida Theatre); while at the National Theatre she has directed Tanika Gupta’s The Waiting Room and the Birmingham REP production of The Ramayana.
The Motherf**ker with the Hat will be designed by Robert Jones, with lighting by Oliver Fenwick and sound by Carolyn Downing. Casting has still to be announced.