Erase all thoughts of Cats from your mind. This celebration of the work of modernist poet, playwright and critic TS Eliot is ambitious even by the Donmar’s standards. The centrepiece is a full production of the Anglophile American writer’s 1939 verse drama, The Family Reunion, in which dark secrets emerge when young Harry rejoins his aristocratic clan after eight years’ absence.

Samuel West leads a top-rank cast that includes Penelope Wilton, Christopher Benjamin, Gemma Jones, William Gaunt, Una Stubbs and Anna Carteret, under the direction of Jeremy Herrin.

Then, for six performances only in January, Stephen Dillane will read Eliot’s poetic quadrology, Four Quartets, accompanied by a string quartet from the Philharmonia orchestra playing Beethoven’s op 132, in a performance directed by the visionary Katie Mitchell.

Rounding out the season are rehearsed readings of the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party, helmed respectively by Douglas Hodge and Jamie Lloyd, and readings of Eliot’s verse presented by Josephine Hart, author of Damage.

The Donmar’s festival kicks off a year-long series of celebrations in 2009, marking the 80th anniversary of Eliot’s publisher, Faber and Faber.

The Family Reunion 20 Nov-10 Jan, 2009; festival runs until 17 Jan (0870 060 6624 www.donmarwarehouse.com)