Full Cast Set For YENTL at the Marylebone Theatre

After a series of sold-out Australian seasons — including a five-star run at the Sydney Opera House — Yentl, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre's bold and acclaimed new adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's story has announced its final casting for its international premiere at Marylebone Theatre from 6 March 2026 for a strictly limited run until 12 April with a press night on 11 March.

Ashley Margolis will play ‘Avigdor', with Claire Morrissey joining the company as understudy ‘The Figure', and Michali Dantes as understudy ‘Avigdor'. They join previously announced cast members Amy Hack (After The Trial, Ten Pound Poms, The Secret She Keeps) as ‘Yentl', Genevieve Kingsford (Leo, Chopper: The Untold Story) as ‘Hodes', and Evelyn Krape (Babe, Blue Heelers, Flying Doctors) as ‘The Figure', with Kandice Joy (Utopia, Fat Tony & Co) as understudy ‘Yentl/Hodes'.

Ashley Margolis's theatre credits include ‘Darwin' in Anna Ledwich's production of The Billionaire Inside Your Head (Hampstead Theatre), Richard Dreyfuss in The Shark Is Broken (UK & Ireland Tour), ‘Telephone Guy' in Michael Longhurst's Olivier-nominated production of The Band's Visit (Donmar Warehouse), Liam in Bad Jews (Arts Theatre, West End), and ‘Chip' in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Original UK Tour). Television credits include Silent Witness, Brassic (Series 6), Father Brown, The City & The City, Comedy Playhouse, Some Girls, Anne Frank: A Life in Hiding and Disney's Vikingskool. Film credits include A Christmas Number One, Moon Rock, The Doll's House and the Audience Award–winning short film Two Minutes (BFI London Film Festival 2024). Radio credits include Almonds and Raisins (Series 2), Stormy Applause, Franz and Felice, Trust, Ghost Kitchen, Lenin Forever!, Chicken Soup with Barley, Zola: Blood, Sex and Money, Paradise Lost, Marcovaldo and Women in Love.

Claire Morrissey trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Theatre credits include ‘Elizabeth' in Gaslight (English Theatre Hamburg), understudy ‘Winnie' in Beckett's Happy Days (Riverside Studios), directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, understudy ‘Mrs Elton' in The Deep Blue Sea (Haymarket Theatre), various roles in the long-running NewsRevue (Canal Café Theatre), ‘Clarissa' in Sin & Salvation by the Heather Brothers (Realto Theatre, Brighton), ‘Hermione' in A Winter's Tale (Tabard Theatre), Soloist/Group Singer in An Enchanted Evening (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), and ‘Oolie' in City of Angels (Royal Academy of Music). Television and film credits include ‘Eva' in Inflicted Kindness (short film), a schoolteacher in three episodes of Doc Martin (ITV), ‘Marsha' in Bona Vacantia (short film, runner-up for Best Emerging Talent at the Renaissance Film Festival), and Sara Forster in Casualty (BBC One).

Michali Dantes is a British actor and actor-musician of Jewish-Greek descent, trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Watermill Theatre), Cable Street (Marylebone Theatre), Dick Whittington (Queen's Theatre Hornchurch), First Date (Old Joint Stock Theatre), Not Even the Dogs (Old Red Lion Theatre), Go (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), and The Jungle Book (S4K International).

Yentl is a bold and contemporary reimagining of Singer's revolutionary tale, staged bilingually in Yiddish and English. Set in an 1870s Polish shtetl, it follows a young woman who, forbidden by Orthodox law from studying Jewish scripture, disguises herself as a man and steps into a world of learning, love and moral conflict. As her pursuit of knowledge deepens, faith, gender, desire and tradition collide, propelling her toward a destiny that challenges every boundary.

The production is directed and co-written by Gary Abrahams with co-writers Galit Klas and Elise Hearst, with set and costume design by Dann Barber, lighting design by Rachel Burke, and original composition and sound design by Max Lyandvert. Yiddish translation is by Professor Rivke Margolis.

Gary Abrahams said, “This isn't Yentl as you know it. This production reclaims Isaac Bashevis Singer's original Yiddish short story and reconnects it with its darker and more transgressive roots.  Singer's spirituality sings throughout, conjuring a world full of dybbuks, demons and ghosts. We are thrilled to have our international premiere in London, a city whose artists, playwrights and directors have been hugely influential to my own work.”

Under the leadership of award-winning directors Evelyn Krape (Artistic Director) and Gary Abrahams (Executive Director), Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT) has re-emerged as one of Melbourne's most courageous and thought-provoking theatre companies. As the only contemporary bilingual Yiddish-English theatre company in Australia and one of only a handful worldwide, KYT is known for telling urgent, universal stories through a distinctly Yiddish lens.

The Kadimah has championed Yiddish language, culture and theatre since its establishment in Melbourne in 1911 and staged its first in-house production in October 1925, making Kadimah Yiddish Theatre the oldest theatre company in Australia. The London international premiere of Yentl is a major highlight of its 100th anniversary year.

Yentl is presented and managed in the UK by award-winning international production company Wild Yak Productions (The Mongol Khan, London Coliseum; Slava's SnowShow, West End & UK Tour; What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Marylebone Theatre) in association with Counterminers CIC, a younger production company focused on artistic development and industry outreach.