Lesley Manville and Anna Maxwell Martin Will Lead AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY West End Revival

August: Osage County will return to London's West End in 2027 in the play's first major revival. The production will star two-time Olivier Award winner and 2026 Tony Award Best Actress winner, Lesley Manville as Violet Weston, alongside two-time BAFTA TV Award winner Anna Maxwell Martin as Barbara Fordham.

Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning landmark family drama returns to the stage for a strictly limited 12-week season at the Noël Coward Theatre (A Delfont Mackintosh Theatre) from Monday 18 January - Saturday 10 April 2027, directed by Jeremy Herrin whose award-winning work includes People, Places and Things and Wolf Hall.

Following a sudden family crisis, the fiercely dysfunctional Weston family reunites at their Oklahoma home. As old wounds reopen and long-buried secrets come to light, simmering resentments in this unfiltered portrait of family life. By turns darkly funny and deeply moving, Tracy Letts' modern masterpiece is packed with unforgettable characters, blistering dialogue and explosive family truths.

Widely regarded as one of the defining plays of the 21st century, August: Osage County was first performed by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2007 – of whom Tracy Letts remains a long-time member – before successful engagements on Broadway and at London's National Theatre.

After a clutch of award wins, Letts adapted his play into the 2013 film directed by John Wells, featuring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts as part of its magnificent ensemble cast. Both earned Academy Award nominations for their performances.

The play has earned international acclaim for its fearless exploration of family, addiction and grief. Its blend of pitch-black comedy and devastating drama has made it a modern classic, celebrated by critics and audiences around the world.

Lesley Manville says: “I'm delighted to be taking on August: Osage County with Jeremy Herrin directing. It's an epic piece of American literature written by the truly great Tracy Letts. It has not been seen in London for almost 20 years, so I cannot wait to bring this complex, funny, tragic, ultimate family saga to the West End and create the matriarch, Violet Weston.”

Director Jeremy Herrin continues: “August: Osage County is one of the great plays of our time, and it firmly places Tracy Letts as heir to O'Neill, Miller and Williams in the continuum of the best American Playwrights. It's a darkly funny and gripping family drama that transcends its form. As a brilliant actor himself and long-standing member of Steppenwolf, Tracy knows how to write for actors. I'm excited to bring together a fantastic ensemble for the first major revival of this play. 

I'm thrilled to be reunited with Lesley Manville after her Tony Award win, and I can't wait to see her square up against Anna Maxwell Martin, whose work I've long admired. I've loved this play since I saw it on Broadway in 2008, and I can't wait to explore all its twists and turns in the Noël Coward Theatre, the perfect space for this searing and epically entertaining show.”

Producers Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska, along with Second Half Productions, conclude: “August: Osage County sits comfortably alongside the most established classics of American theatre. As this landmark play has only been presented in London for a short run two decades ago, it's an honour to present its first major revival, led by two of the UK's finest actors. The word 'event' is overused, but this production very much feels like one.”

About Lesley Manville

Lesley Manville plays Violet Weston. Lesley is a multi-award-winning stage, film and television actress, known for her Tony award-winning performance for Jocasta in Oedipus on Broadway, Emmy and BAFTA-nominated role as Princess Margaret in The Crown and her Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated role in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Phantom Thread. Her recent theatre work includes her role in Oedipus on Broadway. She won both an Olivier and Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress in the West End last year for the London Wyndham's Theatre run in 2025, in Robert Icke's acclaimed adaptation. Lesley has just completed an on-stage run of Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses at The National Theatre in London. Other big screen roles include Mrs Harris Goes To Paris, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Upcoming roles include Jack of Spades (2027) and Winter of the Crow (summer 2026). For Television, she will reprise her role as Susan Ryeland in the third and final instalment of Antony Horowitz's Susan Ryeland Murder trilogy, called Marble Hall Murders, as well as her BAFTA-nominated role in the BBC's award-winning Sherwood for a third season.   Lesley has worked extensively with director Mike Leigh. Most notably on Another Year, for which she won the prestigious NBR Best Actress Award, a Critics' Circle Award and received BAFTA and BIFA nominations. Other films with Mike Leigh are All Or Nothing (Critics Circle Best Actress Award), Topsy-Turvy, Mr Turner, High Hopes, Secret and Lies, Vera Drake and Grown Ups. Other films include Back To Black, The Critic, Ordinary Love, Let Him Go, Misbehaviour and both Maleficent films.

Amongst Lesley's extensive television career, Lesley also starred in the BBC's Mum, winning her an RTS Comedy Performance Award and 2 BAFTA nominations. Other TV includes Citadel, Magpie Murders, I Am Maria, Harlots, Save Me Too, Talking Heads, World on Fire, North and South, Cranford and Other People's Children and Bodily Harm, receiving RTS Best Actress nominations for both. TV roles yet to be released include Moonflower Murders and the second instalment of Citadel for Amazon. 

Theatre credits include: Ghosts (Almeida, West End and BAM New York) for which she won a Best Actress Olivier Award and Critics Circle Award. She also received Best Actress Olivier nominations for Long Day's Journey Into Night (Bristol Old Vic, Wyndham's, BAM New York and LA) and Grief (National Theatre). Other recent theatre includes The Visit at The National Theatre and Talking Heads at The Bridge.  Lesley was appointed an OBE in 2015 and promoted to CBE in 2021.

About Anna Maxwell Martin

Anna Maxwell Martin plays Barbara Fordham. Anna's prolific career has earned her two BAFTA awards—Best Actress for Bleak House and Poppy Shakespeare—alongside four further nominations, including Best Female Comedy Performance for the hit BBC series Motherland.   Her most recent BAFTA nomination recognised her extraordinary portrayal of Delia Balmer in ITV's Until I Kill You, which The Guardian hailed as “the best performance of her career.” For this role, Anna also won the International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress, as well as a BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress.   Anna stars in the Apple TV+/Sony series Star City, which premiered globally at the 2026 Cannes International Series Festival ahead of its transmission on 29 May 2026.   She has recently wrapped on the independent feature film The Worst.  Directed by Simon Woods.

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