Provocative play to spearhead new season at Old Vic

A PROVOCATIVE play about a journalist accused of espionage in the war on terror is to spearhead the new season at the Old Vic.

The line-up of productions, beginning in January, also sees the long-awaited return of director Sam Mendes to the London theatre scene and the stage debuts in the capital of Irish singer and actress Andrea Corr and Hollywood actor Ethan Hawke.

Kevin Spacey will direct Complicit by award-winning American playwright Joe Sutton at the Southwark theatre. It will be performed in the round following the recent success of comedy trilogy The Norman Conquests, which runs until December.

Spacey, the artistic director at the Old Vic, said: "We've had such a great experience with The Norman Conquests that I am thrilled to get a chance to direct Complicit in the round."

Complicit will run from 7 January to 21 February. Described as "very topical", it tells how a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist is hauled in front of a grand jury accused of revealing CIA secrets.

In late February, Brian Friel's Olivier award-winning play, Dancing At Lughnasa, will open at the Old Vic in its first production since its premiere in 1990. Set in rural Ireland in the Thirties, the bittersweet drama tells the story of five sisters. Anna Mackmin will direct a cast including Niamh Cusack, Michelle Fairley, Susan Lynch and Corr. Spacey added: "I couldn't be happier that we've attracted such a terrific cast to Dancing At Lughnasa and I know that Anna Mackmin has wonderful ideas about the play. And we finally get to welcome Sam Mendes to the Old Vic, which will be a great moment for audiences and actors alike."

From May, Mendes directs two plays The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov and Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, which are both the culmination of the Bridge Project, a collaboration between London and New York. The three-year partnership unites the Old Vic with Brooklyn Academy of Music and Neal Street Productions.

Mendes, who won an Oscar for directing the 1999 film American Beauty which starred Spacey, will direct a formidable group of actors in The Cherry Orchard and Winter's Tale.

The cast will include Simon Russell Beale, Sinéad Cusack, Richard Easton, Rebecca Hall, Josh Hamilton, Paul Jesson and Hawke, best known for his roles in the films Before Sunset and Training Day, for which he was nominated for an Oscar. The Old Vic also announced today that the 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala will be held on 30 November. The fundraising event involves 40 actors, directors and writers working to create six short plays in 24 hours.