Warren Carlyle to Direct FOR THE LOVE OF MISS LUCY Workshop in London

The darkly comic gothic thriller by Mary Lynn Dobson will get a rehearsed presentation to an invited audience at Underbelly Boulevard Soho on Thursday 1 October 2026 at 11am and 2pm.

Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Warren Carlyle (Broadway credits include The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster and Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler) will direct the workshop presentation.

The company includes Victoria Smurfitt (Maud O'Hara in Disney+ drama Rivals), Emmy Award-nominated Jeremy Swift (Leslie Higgins in Ted Lasso, Septimus Spratt, the butler of the Dowager Countess, in Downton Abbey), Morgan Watkins (HBO's Under Salt Marsh), Harry Peacock (Ray Purchase in C4's Toast of London), Sally Rogers (DC/Sgt Jo Masters in ITV's The Bill), BAFTA Award-winning Luke Rollason (Jizzlord in the Disney+ series Extraordinary), Bailey Patrick (Allegra, West End) and Stephen Boxer (Joe Fenton in the BBC drama Doctors).

Produced by Black Irish Productions, with Tony Award winning Executive Producer Thomas Hopkins and general management by THP and casting by Emmy Award Nominated Rob Kelly CDA, the event will comprise two readings for invited investors, agents and creatives.

For the Love of Miss Lucy is a darkly comic gothic thriller set in a 1920s English sanitarium, where wit, romance and horror collide.

When the elegant and devoted Lucy Seward suddenly falls gravely ill following the arrival of a mysterious Count, her brother Dr. Seward has summoned the world's leading authority on inexplicable afflictions, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, to investigate. As strange behaviours begin to emerge amongst the sanitarium's residents, Van Helsing becomes convinced that something far more sinister than illness is at work.

Blending razor-sharp comedy with gothic suspense, For the Love of Miss Lucy reimagines the Dracula mythology through the lens of a sophisticated Noël Coward-style comedy, full of eccentric characters, biting wit and dangerous seduction. Set between drawing rooms, candlelight and creeping shadows, the play balances genuine heart with theatrical flair and escalating mystery.

Rehearsals are scheduled to begin on 24 September 2026, ahead of the invited presentation on 1 October.

CAST

• Morgan Watkins — Dracula
• Victoria Smurfitt — Lucy
• Jeremy Swift — Dr Seward
• Harry Peacock — Jonathan Harker
• Sally Rogers — Nurse
• Luke Rollason — Renfield
• Bailey Patrick — Beetleston
• Stephen Boxer — Graves

CREATIVE AND PRODUCING TEAM

• Playwright: Mary Lynn Dobson
• Director / Choreographer: Warren Carlyle
• Casting Director: Rob Kelly
• Producer: Black Irish Productions
• Executive Producer: Thomas Hopkins
• General Management: THP

Warren Carlyle has been nominated for four Tony Awards, eight Drama Desk Awards and an Emmy Award (Carousel, Live at Lincoln Center), and has won a Tony Award, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and the prestigious Astaire Award for choreography.

Mary Lynn Dobson is the award-winning playwright of The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood, Two on the Aisle—Three in a Van and Skin Deep, a winner of the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival.

PRESENTATION DETAILS

• For the Love of Miss Lucy by Mary Lynn Dobson
• Venue: Underbelly Boulevard Soho
• Date: Thursday 1 October 2026
• Format: Two invited workshop readings for investors, agents and creatives