Tom Hollander to star in new Peter Morgan play ‘Patriots’

The world premiere play will explore the Soviet Union collapse.

If you’re looking for world premieres in London, the Almeida Theatre is the place to be. Two new plays will open at the Almeida in the coming months, including Peter Morgan’s Patriots and Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s The Clinic.

Set during the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Patriots will follow a generation of oligarchs as they try to seize control of a new world. Tom Hollander will lead the cast as businessman Boris Berezovsky in Patriots. Hollander’s West End credits include A Flea in Her Ear at the Old Vic and Travesties at the Apollo Theatre. He later reprised the latter role on Broadway, earning a Tony nomination.

The Patriots cast also includes Will Keen as Vladimir Putin, Matt Concannon, Stephen Fewell, Ronald Guttman, Aoife Hinds, Yolanda Kettle, Sean Kingsley, Paul Kynman, Jessica Temple, Luke Thallon and Jamael Westman.

Peter Morgan writes Patriots, which is the latest in a series of political plays including Frost/Nixon and The Audience. Rupert Goold directs, with set design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Kinnetia Isidore, lighting design by Jack Knowles and sound design by Adam Cork. Patriots begins previews on 2 July, with an opening night on 12 July and performances to 20 August.

Following Patriots, Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s debut play The Clinic will premiere at the Almeida Theatre. The Clinic follows Wunmi, a young woman who relies on those around her to stop her world crumbling. Baruwa-Etti wrote The Clinic during a year-long residency at the Almeida as part of the Channel 4 Playwrights' bursary.

Monique Touko directs The Clinic. The cast includes Toyin Ayedun-Alase, Donna Berlin, Maynard Eziashi, Simon Manyonda, Gloria Obianyo, and Mercy Ojelade. The show features design by Paul Wills, lighting design by Matt Haskins, sound design by Christopher Shutt, and choreography by Lanre Malaolu.

The Clinic begins previews on 3 September, with an opening night on 12 September and performances to 1 October.

Photo credit: Tom Hollander in Travesties (Photo by Johan Persson)