Helen Mirren plays the title role in PHEDRE by Jean Racine, in a version by Ted Hughes, directed by Nicholas Hytner, opening in the Lyttelton Theatre on 11 June. The cast also includes Dominic Cooper as Hippolytus and Margaret Tyzack as Oenone. The production will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Paule Constable and music by Adam Cork.
Consumed by an uncontrollable passion for her young stepson and believing Theseus, her absent husband, to be dead, Phedre confesses her darkest desires and enters the world of nightmare. When Theseus returns alive and well, Phedre fearing exposure, accuses her stepson of rape. The result is carnage.
Helen Mirren is an NT Associate. Her many stage appearances include Mourning Becomes Electra and Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre, Dance of Death (Broadway), Orpheus Descending (Donmar Warehouse) and A Month in the Country (West End and New York). Her extensive and multi award-winning screen work includes The Queen (Academy Award for Best Actress), Prime Suspect (three BAFTA and two Emmy Awards for Best Actress), Elizabeth I (Golden Globe for Best Actress), Ayn Rand (Emmy Award for Best Actress), Calendar Girls, The Last Station, State of Play and The Madness of King George.
Margaret Tyzack's distinguished theatre career includes Southwark Fair, His Girl Friday, Tartuffe and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the National; several RSC seasons; and many West End appearances, most recently The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse, for which she won the Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress (the latter shared with Penelope Wilton).
Dominic Cooper last appeared at the National in The History Boys (also on Broadway, international tour and on screen) and in His Dark Materials. His recent screen credits include Sense and Sensibility, The Duchess and Mamma Mia.
Since he became Director of the National in April 2003, Nicholas Hytner has directed Henry V, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, Southwark Fair, The Alchemist, The Man of Mode, The Rose Tattoo (with Stephen Pimlott), Rafta, Rafta… , Much Ado About Nothing, Major Barbara and England People Very Nice. -- www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
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