Mark Hayhurst’s new play, Taken at Midnight premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre in September. It has now been announced that the play will transfer to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the heart of London’s West End from 15 January 2015, following the National Theatre's production of Great Britain.
The production stars Penelope Wilton as the mother of legendary German lawyer Hans Litten, who risked her own life to rescue her son, after he called Adolf Hitler to the witness stand in a 1931 murder trial.
Directed by Chichester Festival Theatre’s artistic director Jonathan Church, Taken at Midnight opened at the Minerva Studio Theatre to massive public and critical acclaim, and the productions leading lady will return to the role of Irmgard Litten for the West End run.
Writer Mark Hayhurst wrote the BBC film The Man Who Crossed Hitler and 37 Days, a major factual drama series for the BBC’s World War One Centenary in 2014.
Penelope Wilton was last seen on stage in Chichester as Vita Sackville-West in Vita and Virginia back in 1992. Wilton recently played opposite Imelda Staunton in A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre and was last seen treading the boards of the West End as Gertrude in Jude Law’s starring turn as Hamlet. She is also known for her screen work in Downton Abbey and The Calendar Girls.
Taken at Midnight will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a very limited run - 15 January to 14 March 2014.
The Olivier award-winning stage version of E. Nesbit’s 1906 classic book The Railway Children will return to London this winter after wowing audiences at Waterloo station back in 2011.