JUNIPER BLOOD, THE MAIDS, and WHEN WE ARE MARRIED Set For Donmar Warehouse

With the critically acclaimed revival of Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel currently playing, Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch has announced three new plays for Autumn 2025/26, including two world premieres.

Following Intimate Apparel will be the world premiere of Juniper Blood, a new play by Mike Bartlett exploring the true cost of pursuing ideals in an imperfect world. James Macdonald returns to the Donmar to direct Terique Jarrett, Hattie Morahan, Nadia Parkes, Jonathan Slinger and Sam Troughton.

Following his critically acclaimed Olivier and Tony Award winning reimagining of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Kip Williams makes his Donmar debut with the world premiere of his bold new translation of Jean Genet's The Maids – which he also directs.

Finally, Sheader directs a revival of J.B. Priestley's comedy When We Are Married, with a cast including Siobhan Finneran, Samantha Spiro, Sophie Thompson and Marc Wootton.

Artistic Director Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch said, “We are delighted to share the details of the next three shows coming up at the Donmar. Led by UK and International Artists at the top of their game, the season brings three fabulous stories to life, inviting audiences into our powerfully intimate space to be transported together. We want to ensure that younger audiences will always be able to access our work, and we are therefore continuing our commitment to offering thousands of £20 tickets for audiences aged 35 and under across these three new productions as well as working with 6,000 local young people this year through our Donmar LOCAL programme.

We are proud to be working with 95% of secondary state schools in our two local boroughs of Camden and Westminster, offering opportunities for thousands of children each year to enjoy our work, learn about careers in the industry and grow their skills as young theatre makers.  Supporting new pathways into the industry has always been a central tenet of our work, and we are delighted that our skills development programme for under-represented artists will also continue this year with Catalyst roles on a number of productions in this season.

We are grateful to all our supporters for helping us to create not only our work on stage, but also to enable access to our work and careers in the sector for many young people.”

JUNIPER BLOOD 

Written by Mike Bartlett

Cast: Terique Jarrett, Hattie Morahan, Nadia Parkes, Jonathan Slinger, Sam Troughton

Director: James Macdonald; Designer: ULTZ; Associate Set Designer: Mark Simmonds;

Lighting Designer: Jo Joelson; Sound Designer: Helen Skiera

16 August - 4 October

Lip and Ruth have left the city behind for a new life on a farm; trying to live differently, live better. But when Ruth's stepdaughter and her provocative Best Friend arrive, this quiet rural project is thrown into chaos, as conflicting visions of the future come crashing into the present.

Mike Bartlett's powerful new play Juniper Blood explores the true cost of pursuing our ideals in an imperfect world.

James Macdonald directs an outstanding cast including Terique Jarrett, Hattie Morahan, Nadia Parkes, Jonathan Slinger and Sam Troughton.

Mike Bartlett's plays include Unicorn (Garrick Theatre), Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), The 47th (The Old Vic), c*ck(Ambassadors' Theatre, Royal Court Theatre), Mrs Delgado (Arts at the Old Fire Station, Theatre Royal Bath, Oxford Playhouse), Albion, Game (Almeida Theatre), Snowflake (Arts at the Old Fire Station, Kiln Theatre), Wild (Hampstead Theatre), King Charles III - Olivier Award for Best New Play (Almeida Theatre, Wyndham's Theatre, Music Box Theatre, New York), An Intervention (Paines Plough, Watford Palace Theatre), Bull (Sheffield Theatres, Off Broadway, Young Vic), Medea (Headlong, Glasgow Citizens, Watford Palace Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre), Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre, Gielgud Theatre), 13 (National Theatre), Decade (Headlong), Earthquakes in London (Headlong, National Theatre), Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Royal Court Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Contractions (Royal Court Theatre, Sheffield Theatres), My Child (Royal Court Theatre), Artefacts (Bush Theatre, Nabokov). Bartlett has previously been Writer In Residence at The National Theatre and is currently an Associate Playwright at The Royal Court Theatre. His television credits include Life, Doctor Foster, King Charles III, Sticks and Stones, Trauma and Press.

Terique Jarrett plays Femi. His theatre credits include Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith), Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic), “Daddy”: A Melodrama (Almeida Theatre), The Mirror and the Light (RSC), Our Town (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), The Winter's Tale (National Theatre) and Motown the Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre). His television credits include Andor, Moon Knight and Find Me in Paris; and for film, Layla.

Hattie Morahan returns to the Donmar to play Ruth – she previously appeared in The Family Reunion. Her other theatre credits include Ghosts, The Changeling (Shakespeare's Globe), Orpheus Descending (Menier Chocolate Factory), Grief is the Thing With Feathers (Complicité), Anatomy of a Suicide, The City (Royal Court Theatre), A Doll's House - Winner of Best Actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and Critics' Circle Awards (Young Vic), The Dark Earth and The Light Sky (Almeida Theatre), Flare (Micah) (Bush Theatre), Plenty (Sheffield Theatres), The Real Thing (The Old Vic), Three More Sleepless Nights, Time And The Conways, ...some trace of her, The Seagull, Iphigenia at Aulis, Power (National Theatre), See How They Run (UK tour), Twelfth Night (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Singer (OSC, Tricycle Theatre), Arsenic and Old Lace (Strand Theatre), The Circle (UK tour), Night Of The Soul, The Prisoner's Dilemma, Huis Clos, Love In A Wood and Hamlet (RSC). Her television credits include Fool Me Once, Sex Education, Hijack, The Undeclared War, The Sleepers, Inside No.9, Angela Carter: Of Wolves & Women, Zanzibar, My Mother And Other Strangers, Ballot Monkeys, The Outcast, Arthur and George, The Bletchley Circle, Law and Order UK, Eternal Law, Money, Larkrise To Candleford, Outnumbered, Marple: A Pocket Full Of Rye, Trial & Retribution: To Kill A King, Bike Squad, Sense And Sensibility, Bodies, New Tricks and Peacock Spring; and for film, Black Dog, Luther: The Fallen Sun, Operation Mincemeat, Enola Holmes, Official Secrets, Beauty and the Beast, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mr Holmes, Having You, Summer In February, The Bank Job, The Golden Compass, Out of Time, Good Boy and Love Hate.

Nadia Parkes plays Milly. Her theatre credits include The House Party (Headlong, Chichester Festival Theatre). Her television credits include Kidnapped, Inspector Lynley, Half Bad: The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself, Tokyo Vice, Starstruck, Domina, The Spanish Princess and Doctor Who; and for film, CC Emily and This is Christmas.

Jonathan Slinger plays Tony. His theatre credits include Waiting for Godot (Theatre Royal Haymarket), A View from the Bridge (Octagon Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Rose Theatre, Kingston), Sarah (The Coronet Theatre), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Rose Theatre Kingston), Oleanna (Theatre Royal Bath, West End), Crave, Yes, Prime Minister (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Provoked Wife, Hamlet, All's Well that Ends Well, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, The Homecoming, Macbeth, Richard III - nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards,  Richard II - nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards, Henry VI parts I, II and III, Henry V, The American Pilot, A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC), Absolute Hell, Power, The Duchess of Malfi, The Coast of Utopia, The Machine Workers (National Theatre), Fanny and Alexander (The Old Vic), Trouble in Mind (The Print Room), Plastic (Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Urinetown (St. James Theatre, Apollo Theatre), The Gods Weep (RSC, Hampstead Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Young Vic), Bones (Newcastle LIVE, Hampstead Theatre), Medea (Queen's Theatre), As You Like it, Dreaming (Royal Exchange Theatre), Widower's Houses (National Theatre, UK tour), Mother Courage (Contact Theatre), The Winter's Tale, The Maid's Tragedy (Shakespeare's Globe), Romeo and Juliet, Bouncers (New Vic Theatre), Morning and Evening (Hampstead Theatre) and The Cherry Orchard (Haymarket Theatre, Leicester). His television credits include Steal, The Sixth Commandment, Shadow and Bone, Alex Rider, The Salisbury Poisonings, I May Destroy You, Kiri, Nelson in his Own Words, Playing Ball, The Adventures of Daniel, Vexed, Paradox, Krod Mandoon, Hunter, Hustle, Little Dorrit, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Genius of Beethoven, To the Ends of the Earth, Foyle's War, Murder in Suburbia, Cold Feet, Out of Hours, The Bill and Stick with Me Kid; and for film, The Taking, Harmony, A Knight's Tale, Forgive and Forget and Spring Awakening. 

Sam Troughton plays Lip. His theatre credits include Closer (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre), Beginning (National Theatre, Ambassadors Theatre), Rutherford and Son, Stories, King Lear, Buried Child, The Coast of Utopia: Salvage, The Coast of Utopia: Shipwreck, The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Tartuffe (National Theatre), La Musica, Bull, Three Sisters (Young Vic), Mint, Death Tax, The President Has Come To See You, Love, Love, Love (Royal Court Theatre), Bull, As You Like It (Sheffield Theatres, E59E Theatre New York), A Streetcar Named Desire (Liverpool Playhouse), Morte D'Arthur, Romeo and Juliet, The Grain Store, Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale, Richard III, Henry VI Parts I, II and III, The Taming Of The Shrew (RSC), An Oak Tree (Birmingham Rep), Nathan The Wise (Hampstead Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC/City of London Sinfonia), The School For Scandal (Derby Playhouse), and Hamlet (Orange Tree Theatre). His television credits include Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Black Doves, A Very Royal Scandal, The Lazarus Project, Litvinenko, Ragdoll, The Outlaws, Stephen, The Offenders, The Trial of Christine Keeler, Chernobyl, The Little Drummer Girl, The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses, Dancing On The Edge, The Town, Robin Hood, Hex, Messiah, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, Seven Wonders of the Industrial Age: The Sewer King, Ultimate Force, Foyle's War and Summer In The Suburbs; and for film,  Napoleon, Mank, Peterloo, The Ritual, Slumber, Spirit Trap, Alien vs Predator, Vera Drake and Sylvia. 

James Macdonald returns to the Donmar – he previously directed A Doll's House, Part 2, The Way Of The World and Roots. For The Royal Court Theatre, his credits include Glass.kill.imp.bluebeard (also The Public Theater), One For Sorrow, The Children (transferred to Manhattan Theatre Club), Escaped Alone (transferred to BAM Harvey Theater), The Wolf From The Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love & Information (transferred to New York Theatre Workshop), c*ck(transferred to Duke on 42nd Street), Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (transferred to The Public Theatre), Dying City (transferred to Lincoln Center), Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis (transferred to St Ann's Warehouse / US & European tour), Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry & Me, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett's Apprentice, The Terrible Voice Of Satan and Putting Two and Two Together. His other theatre credits include, Unicorn, Waiting For Godot, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Changing Room (West End), Boys On The Verge Of Tears (Soho Theatre) Infinite Life, Night Of The Iguana, John, Dido Queen Of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Yard Theatre), The Tempest, Roberto Zucco (RSC), Sea Creatures, Wild, And No More Shall We Part, #aiww - The Arrest Of Ai Weiwei (Hampstead Theatre), The Father (Theatre Royal Bath, Kiln Theatre, West End), Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day, The Triumph Of Love (Almeida Theatre), The Chinese Room (Williamstown Festival), Cloud Nine (Atlantic Theatre Company), A Number (New York Theatre Workshop), King Lear, The Book Of Grace (Public Theatre), Top Girls (Manhattan Theatre Club, Broadway), John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music). His film credits include A Number.

THE MAIDS 

Written by Jean Genet
In a new translation written and directed by Kip Williams

Set Designer: Rosanna Vize; Costume Designer: Marg Horwell; Video Designer: Ian William Galloway; Lighting Designer: Jon Clark

13 October - 29 November 2025

With their mistress away, two maids act out their darkest fantasies as they obsessively role-play her murder, until performance and reality begin to blur. 

This bold new translation of The Maids is a compelling, timely parable of modern identity and the destructive desire to both emulate and annihilate those we idolize.

Kip Williams follows his international hit production of The Picture of Dorian Gray with this wild reimagining of Jean Genet's classic play. 

French playwright, poet and novelist Jean Genet's other plays include The Balcony, The Blacks, The Screens, Deathwatch and Splendid's. His books include Our Lady of the Flowers, Miracle of the Rose, The Thief's Journal, Querelle of Brest and Funeral Rites.

Kip Williams is a multi-award-winning director of theatre, opera and film. He is the former Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Sydney Theatre Company (STC), positions he held from 2016-2024. Williams' most recent work is his adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (Theatre Royal Haymarket, Music Box Theatre), with Sarah Snook. Williams' adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, a companion cinetheatre production to Dorian Gray, played the Adelaide Festival and Perth Festival in 2023. Next year, Williams will direct his adaptation of Dracula at the Noël Coward Theatre, with Cynthia Erivo playing all 23 roles.

He has directed over 20 productions for Sydney Theatre Company, including his multi-award winning production of Suddenly Last Summer, his reinterpretations of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet, the celebrated 7 hour epic The Harp in the South by Kate Mulvany, his gender inclusive production of Lord of the Flies with Mia Wasikowska, and his ongoing collaborations with actor Hugo Weaving in Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Shakespeare's Macbeth, and Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

Williams was a Board Director of National Institute of Dramatic Art from 2016 to 2023.

WHEN WE ARE MARRIED

Written by J.B. Priestley

Director: Tim Sheader; Set Designer: Peter McKintosh; Costume Designer: Anna Fleischle;

Lighting Designer: Ryan Day

6 December 2025 - 7 February 2026

Three couples, highly respected pillars of the Yorkshire community, gather to celebrate their joint silver wedding anniversaries. It's champagne toasts all round until their evening of pride and self-satisfaction is upended by an unexpected and deeply embarrassing revelation.

As scandal turns to farce, the couples are forced to confront long-buried truths, simmering resentments and the liberating possibility of starting over.  

Artistic Director Tim Sheader leads a joyful revival of J.B. Priestley's much-loved comedy, with a stellar cast including Siobhan Finneran, Samantha Spiro, Sophie Thompson and Marc Wootton.

J.B. Priestley (1894 – 1984) was a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His plays include Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways, I Have Been Here Before, When We Are Married, Music at Night, Johnson Over Jordan, Eden End, They Came to a City, An Inspector Calls, The Linden Tree, The Glass Cage, and A Severed Head (adapted from Iris Murdoch's novel). He was awarded the Order of Merit.

Siobhan Finneran plays Maria Helliwell. Her theatre credits include Three Winters (National Theatre), On The Shore Of The Wide World (Royal Exchange Theatre, National Theatre), Port (Royal Exchange Theatre), 2nd From Last In The Sack Race, Funny Peculiar, Lucky Sods, Rutherford and Sons, Taking Steps, Teechers (Oldham Coliseum), An Evening With Gary Lineker (Derby Playhouse) and An Inspector Calls (Nottingham Playhouse). Her television credits include Protection, Happy Valley - two BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actress, The Other One, Time, The Reckoning, Alma's Not Normal, The Stranger, A Confession, The Widow, Doctor Who, Snatches: Moments from Women's Lives, Cold Feet, The Loch, The Moorside Project, Midwinter Of The Spirit, Benidorm, The Syndicate, Downton Abbey (SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series), Benidorm, The Street, Apparitions, Blue Murder, Unforgiven, Other People, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Wire In The Blood, Johnny and The Bomb, The Royal, Conviction, Passerby, Clocking Off, Heartbeat, Blood Strangers, Sparkhouse, Bob & Rose, Shipman, Always And Everyone, City Central, Clocking Off, Cops, Out Of The Blue, and Mr Wroe's Virgins; and for film, The Damned, Pond Life, Apostasy, Un Ilustre Inconnu, The Selfish Giant, Boy A, and Rita, Sue and Bob Too. 

Samantha Spiro returns to the Donmar to play Clara Soppitt, she previously appeared in Twelfth Night (Wyndham's Theatre) and Merrily We Roll Along - Olivier Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical (Harold Pinter Theatre). Other theatre credits include: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company); Lady Windermere's Fan; Di and Viv and Rose (Vaudeville Theatre); The House They Grew Up In; Funny Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre); Guys and Dolls (Phoenix Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Noël Coward Theatre); Kafka's Dick; God of Carnage (Theatre Royal Bath); Macbeth; The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe); Filumena (Almeida); Company (Sheffield Crucible); Chicken Soup with Barley; The Family Plays (Royal Court Theatre); Hello Dolly - Olivier Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical; Much Ado About Nothing; A Midsummer Night's Dream; As You Like It; Lady Be Good; Macbeth; The Boys From Syracuse (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); Two Thousand Years; Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle & Dick (National Theatre); A Little Night's Music (Chicago Shakespeare's Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Bedroom Farce (Aldwych Theatre); As You Like It (Sheffield Crucible/Lyric); Jumpers (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Roots (Oxford Stage Company); As You Like It (Bristol Old Vic, West Yorkshire Playhouse); Teechers; On The Piste (Hull Truck Theatre Company); How The Other Half Loves (Theatre Royal); Glyn & ‘It' (Yvonne Arnaud/tour). Her television credits include: Waiting For The Out; Only Child; Missing You; The Road Trip; Still Up; Beyond Paradise; Vera; The Larkins; Ragdoll; Ridley Road; Sex Education; Call The Midwife; Agatha and the Truth of Murder; Semi-Detached; Grandpa's Great Escape; Porters; Doc Martin; Doctor Who; Babs; Game of Thrones; Plebs; Tracey Ullman's Show; London Spy; The Wrong Mans; Bad Education; Psychobitches; Panto!; Rebecca Front's Little Cracker; Grandma's House; Rock & Chips; Coupling; M.I.T Murder Investigation Team; and Cold Feet; and on film: One Life; Hard Truths; Hoard; Me Before You; Carnage; A Running Jump; Tomorrow LA Scala!; From Hell; and Cor Blimey!

Sophie Thompson returns to the Donmar to play Annie Parker – she previously appeared in The Physicists, Into The Woods - Olivier Award Winner for Best Actress in a Musical, and Company - Olivier Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress. Other theatre credits include: The Ballad Of Hattie & James (Kiln); The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse); Present Laughter - Olivier Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actress, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actress (The Old Vic); The Importance of Being Earnest; Female of the Species - Critics Circle Award (Vaudeville Theatre); Guys and Dolls - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Chichester Festival Theatre/Savoy Theatre); She Stoops to Conquer (National Theatre); Clybourne Park - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress (Royal Court Theatre/Wyndham's Theatre); Measure for Measure (Globe Theatre); Wildest Dreams - Olivier Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress; All's Well That Ends Well; As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company) Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing  (Renaissance Theatre Company). Her television credits include: Sisters; Silo; Belgravia The Next Chapter; Sex Education; Detectorists; We Might Regret This; Sandylands; Coronation Street; EastEnders; Ghosts; Feel Good; Ratburger; A Gert Lush Christmas; Inside No. 9; A Room with a View; A Harlot's Progress; That Day We Sang; The Railway Children; winner of Celebrity Masterchef 2014; and for film: Greenland 2; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1;  Gosford Park; Dancing at Lughnasa; Emma; Persuasion; Relative Values; Eat Pray Love; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Nicholas Nickleby; Time Travel is Dangerous (National Film awards Nomination For Best Supporting Actress); Morris: A Life With Bells On; Fat Slags; The Missionary.

Marc Wootton returns to the Donmar to play Albert Parker – he previously appeared in The Same Deep Water as Me. His other theatre credits include Till The Stars Come Down, Season's Greetings (National Theatre), Bull (Young Vic), Shirley Ghostman's Spooktacular (Bush Hall) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC). His television credits include The Completely Made-up Adventures Of Dick Turpin, Teenage Euthanasia, Question Team, Gooseberry, High And Dry, Counterfeit Cat, Wussywat The Clumsy Cat, Drunk History, Psychobitches, Way To Go, Inside No. 9, The Matt Lucas Awards, Delocated, La La Land, Neighbours From Hell, Life And Times Of Tim, Brave Young Men, Marc Wootton – Exposed, Gavin and Stacey, Thin Ice, Nighty Night, High Spirits With Shirley Ghostman, BSTV, French & Saunders, Cyderdelic, The Pilot Show, My New Best Friend, Cyderdelic: The Revolution Will Be Televised, Edinburgh Or Bust and The 11 O'Clock Show; and for film, Greatest Days, The Bad Education Movie, Nativity!, Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger!, Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?, The Harry Hill Movie, Arthur Christmas, Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel and Confetti.