David Hare's new play Montauk has a new director. Jonathan Kent takes charge of the Broadway world premiere, which stars Laura Linney and starts previews on 30 March 2027.
David Hare's new play Montauk will be directed by Jonathan Kent when it has its world premiere on Broadway next spring. Laura Linney leads the cast. Previews begin on Tuesday 30 March 2027 at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on West 47th Street, and opening night is Monday 19 April.
Kent takes over from Daniel Sullivan, who was originally announced as director and is now retiring after 55 years in the job. Sullivan staged 20 productions for MTC, among them Proof, which won him the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, and four of them starred Linney.
For London audiences this is a familiar partnership. Kent co-founded the Almeida Theatre as a full-time producing house in 1990 and ran it jointly until 2002. His work with Hare includes The Rules of the Game, Peter Gynt and the Young Chekhov trilogy of Platonov, Ivanov and The Seagull, first seen at Chichester Festival Theatre and then at the National Theatre. Kent's West End credits also take in Gypsy and Sweeney Todd, and he directed The Height of the Storm at Wyndham's before taking it to Broadway with MTC.
Linney plays Roxy Margaux, an essayist whose books on difficult modern art have become bestsellers. Her first visit to the studio of Jared Speight, an abstract painter who has lived alone and embittered on the far reaches of Long Island since an early hit made his name, starts a relationship that pushes both of them hard. Further casting will be announced later.
Hare said: “It’s a sadness for me that Dan is retiring, but no-one could step into his huge shoes better than Jonathan Kent.” He added: “I can’t wait to crack on with Jonathan on Montauk.”
Kent said: “Working with David is always a profound joy. His writing is as vital, witty and razor-sharp as ever, and delving into a world premiere play of his is exhilarating.”
Linney made her London stage debut in 2018 in My Name Is Lucy Barton, which she later took to Broadway with MTC, earning a Tony nomination. Montauk is Hare's first Broadway production since the Tony-winning 2015 revival of Skylight. Closer to home, the National Theatre is staging his Plenty with Emilia Clarke.
For more information, visit the official website.
