The Visit, National Theatre

The world's richest woman returns to her impoverished hometown promising wealth and opportunity for all the locals. But in exchange the townspeople must join together in violence to help settle a vendetta. Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 play The Visit is a darkly funny take on the traditional revenge tragedy. The German drama has been revived, translated, adapted and performed all over the world.

Now American playwright Tony Kushner transports the story to mid-20th-century USA in a new production of The Visit or The Old Lady Comes to Call at the National's Olivier Theatre. Best known for writing landmark 1992 play Angels in America, Kushner will hone in on themes of cynicism, hypocrisy and greed to explore Dürrenmatt’s text in a contemporary context. Further details are sparse, but due to the 7pm start time, we suspect Kushner's adaptation will be long and detailed.

Jeremy Herrin, former artistic director of Headlong and the talent behind hit productions including People, Places & Things and The Nether directs the new production.

Stage and screen regular Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) plays Claire Zachanassian, a steely success story who is as rich as she is beautiful. She returns to her home town of Slurry, New York, promising to ease the post-war recession and shower the locals with money. But there's one condition: the townspeople must help Claire get her revenge on the man who seduced then spurned her decades before. The Matrix star Hugo Weaving plays the former lover with a bounty on his head.

With a prestigious cast and creative team and a timely story of values versus greed, The Visit is an enticing addition to the National Theatre's 2020 season.

Tickets for The Visit at the National Theatre go on sale from 8:30am on Friday 11 October