Rory Kinnear will play economist and Bloomsbury Group figure John Maynard Keynes in the world premiere of “The Standard of Living,” a new play by three-time Olivier Award winner James Graham, producers Brian and Dayna Lee and director Nicholas Hytner revealed Monday.
Royal Ballet principal Natalia Osipova, making her West End debut, will star alongside him as ballet dancer Lydia Lopokova.
The production will run for 12 weeks at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, with previews beginning Sept. 21, opening night set for Sept. 29 and a final performance on Dec. 12.
Graham’s play follows Keynes as he moves between government corridors and the orbit of a radical circle of artists, writers and lovers – including his relationship with painter Duncan Grant and friendship with Virginia Woolf – while markets crash and old financial systems buckle around him. The play also takes in his romance with and eventual marriage to Lopokova, who was a soloist with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes before becoming a celebrated figure in British ballet history.
The creative team also includes set designer Bob Crowley, an Olivier Award winner whose credits include “Giant” and “The Inheritance.”
