Brian Vernel Will Lead THE LONG DROP at Citizens Theatre
The Long Drop will open on 5 June.
The Citizens Theatre has announced the ensemble cast - Andy Clark, Martin Donaghy, George Drennan, Keith Fleming, Mary Gapinski, Robert Jack and Brian Vernel - for its new stage adaptation of The Long Drop by Denise Mina, one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers. Adapted for the stage by award-winning Scottish playwright Linda McLean and directed by Artistic Director Dominic Hill, The Long Drop opens on 5 June.
Denise Mina's The Long Drop is based on the crimes of Peter Manuel, the ‘Beast of Birkenshaw', one of Scotland's most notorious serial killers. The story centres on a strange and unsettling pub crawl through Glasgow, where Manuel accompanies William Watt - the husband and father of three of Manuel's victims - who is himself under suspicion for their murders. As Watt tries to clear his name, he is drawn into Manuel's web of manipulation, half-truths and unease under the guise of help.
Winding through stale-aired bars, shadowed backstreets and tangled lies, The Long Drop is an electrifying stage adaptation of Mina's true crime novel - equal parts psychological thriller and pitch-black comedy. Gritty and gripping, it plunges us into a murky world where truth is slippery, loyalties are uncertain, and nothing is quite as it seems.
Dominic Hill, Artistic Director of the Citizens Theatre and director of The Long Drop said: “Linda McLean's adaptation of Denise Mina's gripping true crime novel captures its razor-sharp wit and moral complexity, finding dark comedy in the shadows without ever softening the horror at its core. Commissioned while the theatre was closed, it's especially rewarding to now see the play come to fruition on the Main Stage. Glasgow has a long-standing fascination with true crime, and this story taps into that with unsettling force. I'm looking forward to bringing it to life with a superb ensemble cast and sharing this gripping crime thriller with Glasgow audiences at the Citz.”
Brian Vernel takes on the role of serial killer Peter Manuel. He is widely recognised for major screen roles including Bala-Tik in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Odda the Younger in The Last Kingdom, Curly in Slow Horses and Billy Wallace in Gangs of London. Opposite him, Keith Fleming marks a return to the Citz as William Watt in his 19th collaboration with director Dominic Hill. Having performed on every major stage in Scotland and worked with some of the greatest theatre directors in the country, he also starred in Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, currently streaming via National Theatre Home.
Performing in multiple roles alongside Vernel and Fleming are: Andy Clark who is familiar to Citz audiences and whose recent credits include the critically acclaimed Wild Rose at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and So Young at the Traverse Theatre; also returning to the Citz is George Drennan who has worked extensively in Scottish theatre over the last thirty-six years, appearing in many shows including Sunshine on Leith at Dundee Rep and Lanark: A Life in Three Acts at the Citz, and, more recently, as a regular on River City; Mary Gapinski who starred in Laura Carreira's award-winning film On Falling, returning to the Citz for the first time since 2009; Robert Jack, known to Citizen's audiences from the award-winning Small Acts of Love which marked the theatre's reopening in August 2025 after the major redevelopment and also Traverse's So Young and Martin Donaghy who only last winter dazzled Beauty and the Beast audiences at the Citz as the lovable pooch, Captain Biscuits, and is starring in the hit series Half Man, currently on tv.
Denise Mina is one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers whose debut Garnethill, published in 1998 won the Crime Writers Association John Creasy Dagger for Best First Crime Novel. She has now published 14 novels and also writes short stories, plays and graphic novels and in 2014 she was inducted into the Crime Writers' Association Hall of Fame.
The Long Drop is a darkly stylish descent into the heart of a city – and the haunted minds of the men who shape it, as it brings Mina's razor-sharp writing to one of Glasgow's biggest stages.
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