World Music, presented in association with Sheffield Theatres (where Donmar boss Michael Grandage is an associate) tells the story of the troubled and bloody relationship between Europe and Africa — and how it rips apart the lives and loves of those caught in the flames. The cast includes Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ray Fearon, Sebastian Harcombe, Kevin R. McNally, Sara Powell, Paul Ready and Assly Zandry. Josie Rourke will direct (she previously directed Frame 312 at the same venue), with designs by Christopher Oram, lighting by Neil Austin and sound design by Gareth Fry. Fearon is an ex-Royal Shakespeare Company Othello and Pericles. McNally, meanwhile, was seen in Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van, opposite Maggie Smith, and Naked at London’s Almeida opposite Juliette Binoche. The other actors all reprise their roles from the original Sheffield production.

Charlotte Jones follows up her hit play Humble Boy with The Dark, previewing from March 18 with an opening night on March 23. About three households living side by side in isolation, until the lights go out, the cast will feature Matt Bardock, Brid Brennan, Anastasia Hille, Roger Lloyd Pack, Stuart McQuarrie, Sian Phillips (a sometime Donmar ‘diva’ in their popular cabaret series) and Andrew Turner. Anna Mackmin (associate director of Sheffield Theatres) will direct, with designs by Lez Brotherston, lighting by David Hersey and sound by Gareth Fry.

Following The Dark, Pirandello’s Henry IV, in a new version by Tom Stoppard, will feature Francesca Annis, Robert Demeger, Ian McDiarmid (previously artistic director of the Donmar’s great rival, the Almeida Theatre), Orlando Wells and David Yelland. Grandage is set to direct, with sets by Christopher Oram, lighting by Neil Austin, music by Adam Cork and sound design by Fergus O’Hare.