NT : What's On : Productions : Democracy
Democracy
a new play by Michael Frayn
Winner Best Play 2003 Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards. Three political parties, in and out of bed with each other like drunken intellectuals, fifteen warring cabinet ministers, and sixty million separate egos. All making deals with each other and breaking them. All looking round at every moment to see the expression on everyone else’s face. All trying to guess which way everyone else will jump. All out for themselves and all totally dependent on everyone else. Not one Germany. Sixty million separate Germanies. The tower of Babel! West Germany, 1969. Willy Brandt begins his brief but remarkable career as the first left-of-centre Chancellor for nearly forty years. Always present but rarely noticed is Günter Guillaume, Brandt’s devoted personal assistant – and no less devoted in his other role, spying on Brandt for the Stasi. Read the transcript of Michael Frayn's Platform on Democracy. Following the sell-out runs in the Cottesloe and Lyttelton Theatres, Democracy transfers to Wyndhams Theatre. See On Tour & West End for more details. Michael Frayn’s multi-award winning Copenhagen, also directed by Michael Blakemore, premiered at the National before transferring to the West End and Broadway. Roger Allam plays Willy Brandt. WORLD PREMIERE Following its sell-out run in the Cottesloe, Democracy transferred to the Lyttelton.
Cast credits:
Willy Brandt : Roger Allam
Hans-Dietrich Genscher : Nicholas Blane
Ulrich Bauhaus : Paul Broughton
Horst Ehmke : Jonathan Coy
Gunther Nollau : Christopher Ettridge
Helmut Schmidt : Glyn Grain
Reinhard Wilke : Paul Gregory
Gunter Guillaume : Conleth Hill
Arno Kretschmann : Steven Pacey
Herbert Wehner : David Ryall
Production credits:
Director: Michael Blakemore
Set Designer: Peter J Davidson
Costume Designer: Sue Wilmington
Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
Sound Designer: Neil Alexander
Democracy finished on: 30 March 2004
