The production will run at the Hampstead Theatre from the 13th February until the 21st March.
The Hampstead Theatre has announced that Elizabeth Dulau (Star Wars spin-off series, Andor and House of Guiness) and Owen Teale (A Discovery of Witches, No Man’s Land) will lead the cast for the world premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play.
Dulau plays Mary Ann Evans, later known as George Eliot, while Teale plays her father, Robert Evans.
The cast will also include: Jonnie Broadbent (The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre), Jolyon Coy (I, Joan, Shakespeare’s Globe), Tom Espiner (Cow/Deer, Royal Court), Rebecca Scroggs (Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer, Hampstead Theatre), James Staddon (Coram Boy, Chichester Festival Theatre) and Sarah Woodward (The Haystack, Hampstead Theatre).
1841. Mary Ann Evans is of marriageable age – just. Her father, Robert, has recently moved with her to Bird Grove House, with the sole purpose of finding her a suitable husband through the local church. But Mary Ann’s remarkable intellect and growing self-confidence are forming progressive new ideas in her mind; ideas that challenge her father’s most strongly held beliefs.
Fuelled by every new book she reads and a burgeoning friendship with local radicals, Mary Ann finds it increasingly difficult to accept the rules of the world around her – bringing her into direct and bitter conflict with the father she adores. But perhaps that is the only way forward: to break every societal convention expected of her, find her voice, and become the writer she has always dreamt of being. After all, who can suppress the astounding gifts of future literary titan, George Eliot?
Alexi Kaye Campbell’s previous work includes the Olivier Award-winning The Pride (Royal Court/West End) and Apologia (Bush/West End). Director Anna Ledwich returns to Hampstead, where her previous credits include The Billionaire Inside Your Head, Labyrinth and the Olivier nominated productions of Dry Powder and Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.
The creative team behind the production includes: designer Sarah Beaton, lighting designer Matt Haskins and sound designer and composer Harry Blake. The casting director is Juliet Horsley.
To book tickets visit: https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2026/bird-grove/