''Great Britain'' is a satirical play written by Richard Bean. It received its world premiere at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 30 June 2014, before transferring to the West End's

Theatre Royal Haymarket The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foot ...

Production history

''Great Britain'' is written by English playwright Richard Bean. In May 2013, it was revealed Bean was working on a new play based on the

phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...

, having been commissioned by National Theatre artistic director Sir

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include '' Miss Saigon'', ''T ...

, whilst still working on his play '' One Man, Two Guvnors''. Speaking about the play he revealed that it would be set in a

tabloid Tabloid may refer to: * Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism * Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size ** Chinese tabloid * Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size * Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid an ...

newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, ...

and is a play about the ''state-of-the-nation, press, politics and police in bed with each other''. In March 2014, it was revealed that an undisclosed Bean play would premiere as part of the National Theatre 2014-15 season, Hytner's last as the National's artistic director. In May 2014, it was revealed that

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...

and Oliver Chris were taking part in workshops for the play and that the cast and crew had signed non-disclosure agreements for the as yet untitled production. On 25 June 2014, the play was officially announced as ''Great Britain'' and that it would premiere without a preview period on 30 June, at the National Theatre's

Lyttelton Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...

. It is a satire about the press, police and politics, and stars Billie Piper as a newspaper editor, Paige Britain. The play is directed by Nicholas Hytner, with design by

Tim Hatley Tim Hatley is a British set and costume designer for theater and film. He is the winner of the Tony Award for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Desi ...

, lighting design by Neil Austin, video design by Leo Warner, music by Grant Olding, sound design by

Paul Arditti Paul Arditti is a British sound designer, working mainly in the UK and the US. He specialises in designing sound systems and sound scores for theatre. He has won awards for his work on both musicals and plays, including a Tony Award, an Olivier Aw ...

and Clive Coleman acting as a story consultant. The launch was slightly delayed by concerns over legal issues which might have been caused by running at the same time as ''

R v Coulson, Brooks and others ''R v Coulson, Brooks and others'' was a trial at the Old Bailey in London, England, arising from the News International phone hacking scandal. At the start, Glenn Mulcaire, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and Greg Miskiw all pleaded guilty ...

''. Following its premiere production the play transferred to the West End's

on 9 September 2014, with its official opening night coming on 26 September, booking until 10 January 2015. The transfer was announced only one day after opening at the national. Lucy Punch took over the role of Paige Britain and Ben Mansfield replaced Oliver Chris as Asst. Commissioner Donald Doyle Davidson for the West End Run, due to prior commitments. The play was reworked for its West End debut, with around twenty minutes cut from the running time.

Principal roles and original cast

External links

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References

{{2011–12 News Corporation scandal 2014 plays Plays by Richard Bean News International phone hacking scandal West End plays