Rory Kinnear to Play John Maynard Keynes in James Graham’s ‘The Standard of Living,’ With the Royal Ballet’s Natalia Osipova Making Her West End Debut

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.

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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.”

The production is also co-presented by Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen for Access Entertainment, with Mark Rubinstein serving as executive producer and Short Street Productions Ltd handling general management.

Graham said: “The extraordinary life of one of the 20th Century’s most impactful and yet – today – rarely talked about figures crosses so many of my favorite worlds to depict: politics, economics, the arts, diplomacy. I’m in playwrighting heaven. Keynes was a humble, radical world-builder, and I’m grateful to bring that world to theatrical life with Nicholas Hytner, a director I owe so much to, and to be supported into bringing a new play straight into the West End, when newness is so needed.”

Hytner added: “I’ve followed James Graham’s brilliant career with admiration and excitement since I commissioned his break-out hit ‘This House’ for the National Theatre in 2012. This wonderful play presses all my buttons so I couldn’t be happier to resume our collaboration, and to work again with the great Rory Kinnear, and to bring the astonishing Natalia Osipova to the West End.”

Kinnear said: “It is a huge privilege to delve into the fascinating life and legacy of John Maynard Keynes: the pioneering thinker and passionate advocate for life, love and the arts whose hunger for a better life, changed the world. Armed with James’s incredible script and reunited with the ever brilliant Nicholas Hytner, I can’t wait to work with this extraordinary company to bring Keynes’ story to life in the West End.”

Osipova added: “It’s a fantastic honor to be making my West End debut in ‘The Standard of Living’ with such an incredible line-up of creatives and performers. Lydia Lopokova was a pivotal figure in ballet history, bridging Diaghilev’s legendary Ballets Russes and the development of British ballet last century, and I can’t wait to explore her character.”

Brian and Dayna Lee said: “James has the exceptional ability to distill pivotal political, social and historical events into riveting and life-altering theatre, and what he has done with the story of John Maynard Keynes is no exception. We are delighted to be working with James and collaborating once again with the brilliant Nicholas Hytner to bring this extraordinary piece of bold original writing direct to the West End and share the little known story of the man who made it possible for theater and art of all kinds to flourish in this country.”

Graham’s recent stage work includes “Punch,” which transferred from the Young Vic to the West End and then Broadway, and “Dear England,” his Olivier-winning portrait of England football manager Gareth Southgate, which ran at the National Theatre and subsequently toured nationally. Kinnear, known to film audiences for his role as Bill Tanner across three James Bond features, won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for “Othello” at the National Theatre in 2014. Hytner, formerly director of the National Theatre and co-founder of the Bridge Theatre, most recently brought Graham’s “Giant” to the West End.