THE SEQUEL to Premiere at King's Head Theatre in London This April

The Sequel will come to Kings Head Theatre, London on Monday 20th April - Saturday 2nd May 2026.

The Sequel is a new comedy-drama from emerging writer Lucas Closs that explores what happens when a novelist returns to the place she used as source material for her wildly successful novel, discovering herself both worshipped and cursed by the residents. The Sequel examines the impact of storytelling on real lives as characters are trapped by their own portrayals.

The production will be directed by Imy Wyatt Corner, who won a Fringe First in 2023 for her production of Mandi Chivasa's BEASTS and the Charlie Harthill Award for her production of Maatin's Duck. The Sequel follows the journey of novelist Grace "G.T." Thoth, as she revisits the café where she wrote her first book, reconnecting with John, the person on whom she based the character of her iconic mentor. The production will feature a live musical score, adding texture and presence to the storytelling.

G.T's coming-of-age book established her reputation as a distinctive literary voice and made the village she grew up in a destination for tourists. In the years since it was published, the café has become a small museum dedicated to her work, preserved by John- famed as the gardening poet of her novel but now a weathered tour guide. G.T is confronted with the impact her work has had on the area and its residents, as well as Martha, the cafe museum's current owner, who resents the author for not putting her mum in the book.

'Whatever you mentioned just became more of itself, whatever you left out, died.'

Meanwhile, John attempts to inspire Grace to write something new to revive interest in the area - and thereby bolster his livelihood.

Set within a rural community reshaped by literary notoriety and tourism, The Sequel explores authorship, ego and responsibility with dark humour. The play captures the pull of nostalgia, the desire to preserve a place exactly as it was and the compulsion to record and shape our experience into narrative. It also reveals the complications that arise when real lives become 'material'; at the heart of the play lies the question of our relationship to others and the moral questions that arise when they become resources in our own creative progress. Directed by Imy Wyatt Corner and produced by Ella Dale, The Sequel marks Lucas Closs as an emerging writer to watch.

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