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'A drama which asks big questions launches this year's Travelex £10 season.
Simon Russell Beale is in commanding form.'
Daily Telegraph
Major Barbara works tirelessly for the poor at a Salvation Army shelter until a large but morally dubious donation is welcomed from her estranged father, a millionaire weapons manufacturer. But when she visits the factory itself, the well-fed workers in their thriving model town make a devastating case for arms trade profits and a whole new set of ideals.
Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done.
The National’s recent production of Saint Joan (Best Revival, Laurence Oliver Awards 2008) suggested that Shaw may be our most provocative contemporary playwright.
Simon Russell Beale plays the millionaire, Undershaft, in this radical state-of-the-nation play which confronts the big questions with brutal panache.
The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty… our first duty – a duty to which every other consideration should be sacrificed – is not to be poor.
Dates
From 26 February to 15th May
Cast
Snobby Price : Paul Anderson
Charles Lomax : Tom Andrews
Barbara Undershaft : Hayley Atwell
Bill Walker : Ian Burfield
Jenny Hill : Katharine Burford
Bilton : Martin Chamberlain
Ensemble : Alasdair Craig
Peter Shirley : Patrick Drury
Ensemble : Keiran Flynn
Sarah Undershaft : Jessica Gunning
Stephen Undershaft : John Heffernan
Lady Britomart Undershaft : Clare Higgins
Morrison : Derek Howard
Rummy Mitchens : Stephanie Jacob
Ensemble : Barbara Kirby
Mrs Baines : Maggie McCarthy
Ensemble : Pamela Merrick
Adolphus Cusins : Paul Ready
Undershaft : Simon Russell Beale
Ensemble : Richard Shanks
Ensemble : Lizzie Winkler
Creative
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Set Designer: Tom Pye
Costume Designer: Vicki Mortimer
Lighting Designer: Paul Pyant
Music: Matthew Scott
Sound Designer: Mike Walker
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