MAKE ROOM FOR THE RETURN OF THE KING

The turmoil of the last 18 months has caused many theatres to reflect on what they are doing – but one that has had a very literal makeover is London’s Donmar Warehouse. Nestled in Covent Garden, it has long been one of the capital’s most prestigious theatres, but if it had a drawback as a venue, it was that it always felt a bit cramped.

‘Previously as a punter, you felt you were in someone’s way, potentially. It was somewhere people arrived [to see a play] and left for dinner straight afterwards,’ as artistic director Michael

Longhurst puts it. But that has changed after the theatre went ahead with long-planned renovation works, and among other things, improving its accessibility with a street level ramp and automated front doors. These have seen the once poky front-of-house areas gutted so, Michael says, ‘There’s a big, open-plan space on every level’ where audiences and artists alike can really relax and hang out.

As for what’s on stage, the theatre is marking its official reopening with an intriguing new play that begins tonight – Cordelia Lynn’s Love And Other Acts Of Violence, an intimate portrait of a relationship that will also serve as an exploration of ‘the tectonic political shifts in our society … it’s really punchy as [an opener],’ Michael promises. As part of the new season, Michael will also be directing Rory Kinnear in an adaptation of French film Force Majeure, and Marys Seacole, a timely play about black women on the frontline of care by Pulitzer-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury, will have its UK première.

The big ticket is Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington (left) in Henry V, a modern, political take on the often performed play that will explore ‘what it means to be ruled by a posh white man [in a] multicultural Britain’. Now I only wonder whether Kit will be sporting blond locks for the role... donmar warehouse.com