Photos: HOLY FOOL is Now Playing at the Park Theatre

The Park Theatre has released all new photos from the world premiere of Holy Fool, a new play by Rosalind Adler and Lea Sellers inspired by the true story of Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich and his battle to preserve his artistic voice under Stalin’s brutal regime. Check out the photos below!

Directed by Kate Fahy, the production is now playing at Park Theatre, London, until Saturday 10 October 2026, with a national press night on Thursday 3 September.

Benjamin O’Mahony (Stu Hale in the BAFTA-nominated Kajaki; Hollyoaks; Ripper Street) stars as Dmitri “Mitya” Shostakovich. He is joined by Jenna Augen (Kyoto - RSC and West End; Leopoldstadt - West End and Broadway) as ‘Nina’, Phoebe Pryce (The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare's Globe; The Importance of Being Earnest - Royal Exchange) as ‘Katya’ and Fergus O’Donnell (RSC, Shakespeare’s Globe, I May Destroy You) as ‘Izaak’.

Alongside Holy Fool, the award-winning Carducci Quartet will present Shostakovich in Seven Parts, a 45-minute journey through the extraordinary world of Shostakovich’s string quartets, bringing together seven contrasting moments from across the composer’s fifteen quartets.

Across fifteen quartets written over nearly four decades, Shostakovich created one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable bodies of chamber music – playful and grotesque, tender and lyrical, fiercely energetic and profoundly tragic.

Shostakovich in Seven Parts brings together seven moments from across the quartets, offering a vivid portrait of the composer and the many faces of his music. From youthful exuberance and biting satire to haunting introspection and the devastating intensity of his late works, each part reveals a different aspect of Shostakovich’s unique musical voice.

The concerts will take place in Park200 at 6.00pm on Saturday 12 September and Friday 25 September, with further performances to be scheduled, subject to demand. Tickets are £15.

The concerts are performed by the internationally acclaimed Carducci Quartet – Matthew Denton and Michelle Fleming (violin), Eoin Schmidt-Martin (viola) and Emma Denton (cello) – whose long association with Shostakovich includes an acclaimed complete cycle of all fifteen quartets.

Shostakovich’s music has long been central to the quartet’s identity. In 2016, they won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Shostakovich15, a global cycle of his quartets including a marathon one-day performance at Shakespeare’s Globe. During the 2024/25 season they presented a five-concert Barbican cycle pairing Shostakovich with female Soviet composers.

At the height of Stalin’s reign of terror, celebrated composer Dmitri Shostakovich walks a perilous tightrope. One wrong note could topple him; one perfectly judged crescendo might save his life. Under the constant threat of torture and death, he must appease a brutal despot – while quietly resisting him.

Outwardly compliant, inwardly defiant, Shostakovich composes in code: music that conceals as much as it reveals. Inspired by real events, Holy Fool is a tense, darkly witty and moving portrait of an artist who fought oppression not with weapons, but with music. Exploring the impossible choices faced by those living under authoritarian rule, the play asks urgent contemporary questions about censorship, propaganda, compromise and the enduring power of art to challenge tyranny.

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