The Royal National Theatre has announced full details of its new booking period which runs from Sept. 24 to Nov. 24.

Luther, by John Osborne and directed by Peter Gill stars Rufus Sewell as Luther, Richard Griffiths, Geoffrey Hutchings, Maxine Peake, Malcolm Sinclair and Timothy West. The play, which is about Martin Luther, the German theologian whose challenge to the Roman Catholic Church set in motion the Protestant Reformation, opens on Oct. 5 at the Olivier.

From Nov. 8 The Good Hope, by Herman Heijermans, in a new version by Lee Hall, will play at the Cottesloe. The cast includes Diane Beck, Emma Bird, Charlotte Emmerson, William MacBain, John Normington, Robert Oates, Trevor Ray, Sheila Reid, Iain Robertson, John Tams. Directed by Bill Bryden, the voyage of 'The Good Hope' is a journey on which the life of the entire community depends. A storm rages, the women and children wait ashore, the boat follows the Greenland catch.

Jitney, by August Wilson, featuring Russell Andrews, Willis Burks II, Paul Butler, Anthony V. Chrisholm, Leo V. Finnie III, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Barry Shabaka Henley, Linda Powell, Keith Randolph Smith, comes next. The play will be directed by Marion McClinton. Set in a Pittsburgh cab company in the late 1970s, it tells the story of the men who drive the jitney cars and their struggle to find honor and accomplishment in a landscape of diminishing possibility. The show opens on Oct. 16 at the Lyttelton.

Gagarin Way, by Gregory Burke, with Bill McElhaney, MIchael Moreland, Michael Nardone, Maurice Roeves, opens at the Cottesloe on Oct. 3. Directed by John Tiffany. Eddie wants to feel the difference between recreational violence for a reason. Gary needs the blood, sweat and tears of his comrades to mean something to someone. And finally, to celebrate the National's extraordinary literary achievements, 25 playwrights will write 25 scenes to make up an as-yet-untitled chain play. Each handling their scene on to the next writer, they will have complete freedom to take the play in any direction they like. Writers include Alan Bennett, Sarah Daniels, Kevin Eloy, Peter Gill, Zinnie Harris, Hanif Kureishi, Terry Johnson, Charlotte Jones, Patrick Marber, Adrian Mitchell, and Stephen Sondheim. The chain play will be performed on Oct. 26 October at the Olivier.

Booking is now open by post or fax. Public booking opens 3rd September if booking by phone or in person.

—by Theatrenow