Initial Casting Set For THE MANNINGTREE WITCHES at Mercury Theatre Colchester

Mercury Theatre Colchester has announced initial casting for the world premiere production of award-winning Mercury Playwright Ava Pickett’s new play The Manningtree Witches.

Based on the award-winning novel by A. K. Blakemore, the gripping historical drama is a fiercely modern exploration of fear, control, and what happens when women’s voices are silenced. Following 17-year-old Rebecca West in 1643 Essex, The Manningtree Witches tells the true story of England’s first Witchfinder General and wrenches the women he killed out from the shadows of history and into the spotlight.

Initial casting announced today includes Lucy Mangan (Playfight – Soho Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, UK Tour, Macbeth – UK & US Tour) as Rebecca West, Sam Mitchell (To Kill a Mockingbird – West End, My Beautiful Laundrette – Leicester Curve & Tour) as Matthew Hopkins, Gina Isaac (Julius Caesar – Royal Shakespeare Company, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – UK Tour) as Anne ‘The Beldam’ West, and Mercury Theatre Associate Artist Chileya Mwampulo (Treasure Island – Eastern Angles, Teechers - New Wolsey Theatre & Tour) as Judith Moone.

Isaac was an Associate Artist of the Mercury Theatre from 2012-2022, and Mwampulo is a current Associate Artist and is a Mercury Playwright.

The Manningtree Witches will have its world premiere on the Colchester theatre’s stage from 28 February 2026 – 14 March 2026.

Adapted by Ava Pickett (1536 - Almeida Theatre, Emma – Rose Theatre, Kingston), The Manningtree Witches will mark the first Mercury Original to have its world premiere on the Colchester theatre’s main stage. The Mercury Original will be in association with Mercury Theatre Associate Company Frantic Assembly, and is supported by Eleanor Lloyd Productions. It has also been developed with support from The National Theatre’s Generate programme, through a Jerwood workshop.

Mercury Theatre’s Artistic Director Natasha Rickman will helm the production as Director alongside Frantic Assembly’s Artistic Director Scott Graham as Movement Director.

The Mercury Theatre has today announced that joining them on the creative team will be Sara Perks (Good Luck, Studio – Mercury Theatre, Mind Mangler – West End, Off-Broadway, Virgin Voyages, & UK Tours) as Designer, Lucía Sánchez Roldán (Girl in the machine – Young Vic, The Importance of Being Earnest – Mercury Theatre) as Lighting Designer, and Nicola T Chang (For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy – West End, Royal Court, New Diorama, A Playlist for the Revolution – Bush Theatre) as Composer.

Ava Pickett says, “The Manningtree Witches is a blisteringly beautiful gut punch of a novel and it’s my privilege to bring the voices of Rebecca and these women, so vivid in A.K Blakemore’s book and too often pushed in to the shadows of history, on to the Mercury stage; and to do it in Colchester, where these women were held and where I spent a huge portion of my own life growing up is even more meaningful. It's a local story but it is also a timeless one and I can’t wait for it to be a part of Natasha Rickman’s first season.”

Natasha Rickman, Artistic Director of Mercury Theatre, says of the play, “The Manningtree Witches sees the extraordinary Ava Pickett adapting local writer A.K Blakemore’s phenomenal novel, bringing the local history of silenced Essex women to life on our stage – we promise an epic piece of vibrant, urgent storytelling full of joy as well as drama, from our professional cast who are also joined by local community performers. I am thrilled to be presenting this in association with our world class associate company Frantic Assembly, and with support from Eleanor Lloyd Productions and The National Theatre’s Generate Programme.”

Mercury Theatre produces world-class theatre, reinventing familiar stories and conjuring up bold, new ones.

Further casting for the production will be announced at a later date. The production will also a feature a community chorus of local performers.