The National Theatre have announced their winter season into 2010.

Fiona Shaw, currently playing the title role in Mother Courage and Her Children at the National, will return in March for London Assurance in the Olivier Theatre. She will be joined by Simon Russell Beale in the play, written in 1841 by the “Irish genius of London theatre in the age of Dickens” Dion Boucicault.

They will play Lord Harcourt and Lady Spanker, two of the great comic roles for the English stage.

Sir Harcourt Courtley is lured away from the epicentre of fashionable London by the promise of a rich and beautiful bride, Grace, forty-five years his junior. Arriving at Oak Hall, Gloucestershire, he marvels at this rural Venus until her charms are eclipsed by her hearty cousin, the foxhunting Lady Gay Spanker. Meanwhile his disguised son turns up in flight from his creditors and falls head over heels for Grace. When Lady Spanker discovers the young couple, she needs little prompting from the visiting chancer Dazzle to lead Sir Harcourt astray.

They will play Lord Harcourt and Lady Spanker, two of the great comic roles for the English stage.

The production, which previews from 2nd March 2010, will be directed by Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner. It will also star Richard Briers and Paul Ready.

Beforehand in the Cottesloe, a new play by Tamsin Oglesby previews from 27th January 2010. Really Old, Like Forty Five is directed by Anna Mackmin and deals with the problems of a maturing population, with relations being put to the test across three generations.

Also in the season is The White Guard at the Lyttelton, directed by NT Associate Director Howard Davies, set in Kiev during the Russian civil war. The production previews from 15th March 2010.

Following the success of last year's production of Macbeth, Carl Heap returns to direct his own version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The National Theatre's touring production for younger audiences is suitable for schools and families with children aged eight and above. The production will play the Cottesloe Theatre from 16th – 27th February 2010.

The National Theatre is part of the Travelex £10 Tickets scheme. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk for full details.

REALLY OLD, LIKE FORTY FIVE
Cottesloe Theatre
Previews from 27 January

LONDON ASSURANCE
Olivier Theatre
Previews from 2 March

THE WHITE GUARD
Lyttelton Theatre
Previews from 15 March

THE 14TH TALE
Cottesloe Theatre
9 February – 13 March

TWELFTH NIGHT
Cottesloe Theatre
16 – 27 February