Irons to make National play debut

Jeremy Irons will play former British prime minister Harold Macmillan

Actor Jeremy Irons is to make his debut in a new play at the National Theatre in London as former British prime minister Harold Macmillan.

The 59-year-old will star in Never So Good, exploring the choices Macmillan faced during his time in office from 1957 to 1963.

The title is taken from Macmillan's proclamation that the British people "have never had it so good".

The play will open at the Lyttelton Theatre on 19 March.

Written by Howard Brenton, it will also co-star Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill.

The play is one of the highlights of the National's 2008 season which artistic director Nicholas Hytner described as "the most ambitious" of his tenure.

'Surge of energy'

"It will be marked above all by the extraordinary confidence of British playwriting, which is in evidence all over the country, at theatres large and small," he said.

"The National is only part of a surge of creative energy throughout the British theatre and I'm looking forward to seeing the results on our stages."

Oscar-nominated Ralph Fiennes will also star in a new version of Sophocles' Oedipus from Frank McGuinness, opening in October.

Vanessa Redgrave will star in The Year Of Magical Thinking, based on the memoirs of widow Joan Didion and has already wowed critics on Broadway. It will also tour the UK after its London run.

And English Patient actress Juliette Binoche will collaborate with Akram Khan on a contemporary dance piece, with sets designed by artist Anish Kapoor for September.

There will also be a revival of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, by Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn.

Speaking at the National's season launch, Hytner also described Arts Council England's proposed funding cuts as a "strategic catastrophe".

The council, which is responsible for distributing public money to the arts, is proposing to cut the grants of 194 organisations and to begin regular funding for 80 new projects.

"The current situation is a terrible mess," he said.

"They seem to be ill thought through and certainly very unfair on those who have been told to prepare for cuts. It is a strategic catastrophe and it is a shame because I think in principle perhaps what they are trying to do is right."