Photos: Michelle Dockery and Laura Aikman in Rehearsal For BLOODSPORT: AFTER HELEN OF TROY

New rehearsal photos have been released, giving a first look at award-winning writer Ava Pickett’s Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy, ahead of its world premiere at Stratford East from 3 September 2026 – 10 October 2026. Check out the photos below!

Starring Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, ITV & Focus Features; upcoming film The Queen of Fashion) as Helen and Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey, BBC; upcoming new series of Line of Duty, BBC) as Cee, the production is directed by Stratford East Artistic Director Lisa Spirling. Tickets are available at www.stratfordeast.com/.

Years after she walked out on her family, Helen has returned home after a war fought in her name. Her husband celebrates, her childhood friend Cee does not. Over the course of this first fragile night of peace time, wounds reopen, loyalties fracture and the true cost of a woman's choice to leave her life is made clear. 

A play about friendship, motherhood, and what happens when the woman whose face started a war, returns home to finish it. 

The full cast also includes Olivier Award-winning actress Maimuna Memon (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Donmar Warehouse; Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Crucible Theatre/ National Theatre) as Dani, Gerard Monaco (Richard II, Bridge Theatre; Dear England, BBC) as Mario, Ethan Moorhouse (The Moment, Studio365; I Know I Know I Know, Southwark Playhouse) as Messenger, Emma Monnickendam (Sisters in Arms,  BBC; Hope, Clean Break/Royal Court Theatre) as Hermione, Jay Taylor (Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies, Swan Theatre/ West End/ Broadway; Midsomer Murders, ITV) as Marcus, Ellie Turner (Summerfolk, National Theatre; 2:22 A Ghost Story, West End) as Chloe and Joshua-Alexander Williams (Romeo & Juliet, The Jamie Lloyd Company; Animal Farm, Stratford East/Leeds Playhouse/Nottingham Playhouse) as Luke.

The full creative team includes Sound Designer and Composer Nicola T. Chang, Movement Director Kloé Dean, Costume Supervisor Sophie Fuller, Casting Director Juliet Horsley CDG, Lighting Designer Zeynep Kepekli, Dramaturg Ed Madden, Fight & Intimacy Coordinator Enric Ortuño, Set and Costume Designer Polly Sullivan, Voice and Dialect by Claudette Williams and Assistant Director Ariana Xeno.

This production is generously supported by Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Eilene Davidson Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust.

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