Rachel Wagstaff News

There will be a fully cast, abridged virtual production of Rachel Wagstaff's highly acclaimed adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's best-selling novel BIRDSONG, streamed online on 1 July 2020, the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. 

For the first time, Chichester Festival Theatre is to stream a selection of its archive productions online, beginning with the musical Flowers for Mrs Harris from Thursday 9 April for the Easter weekend.

The new year 2020 in the theatre circuit will see the retelling of Agatha Christie's popular novel, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff. This celebrated UK production is re-created by the NCPA by award-winning UK director Melly Still and reimagined for an Indian audience by Ayeesha Menon, starring Shernaz Patel, Sonali Kulkarni and Denzil Smith. The iconic Miss Marple (Shernaz Patel) is transported to a small sleepy village in Goa where a fading Bollywood star (Sonali Kulkarni) has bought a rambling colonial mansion with plans to shoot a film for her big comeback.

Fresh from its UK tour, Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel's adaptation of Paula Hawkins' bestselling novel The Girl on the Train comes to the West End.

Wiltshire Creative will premiere Barney Norris' explosive new adaptation of Lorca's Blood Wedding, retold in present-day Wiltshire, at Salisbury Playhouse in February as part of its 2019-20 Autumn Winter season.

It was announced today that Alex Ferns, Marc Elliott and Philip McGinley will join the cast of the record-breaking production of The Girl on the Train for its London run.

The Girl on the Train will be thrilling Dublin audiences as it plays the Bord Gais Energy Theatre June 3-8.

The Girl on the Train starring Samantha Womack as Rachel Watson will transfer to London's Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane for a limited run from 23 July to 17 August 2019.

Samantha Womack stars in a new production of The Girl on the Train, a gripping thriller based on the internationally acclaimed number one best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins and the Dreamworks film. The Girl on the Train heads to Theatre Royal Brighton from Monday 17 - Saturday 22 June.

Following its phenomenally successful West End stage debut in 2018, Paula Hawkins' nail-biting thriller The Girl on the Train heads out on a UK tour this spring, pulling into the Belgrade Theatre 13-18 May.

The Original Theatre Company (OTC), under the Artistic Direction of Alastair Whatley, announces its most ambitious season yet, with an original commission (Caroline's Kitchen), a European premiere (Napoli, Brooklyn), a first revival (The Night Watch) and a 30th anniversary production and first revival (Valued Friends).

Get a first look below at Samantha Womack starring as Rachel Watson in a new production of The Girl on the Train!

Miss Marple, The Queen and Margaret Thatcher will all take centre stage in Salisbury Playhouse's Spring 2019 season.

Wales Millennium Centre and Wiltshire Creative have today announced casting for the first ever UK stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's much-loved Miss Marple thriller The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. Colin R Campbell, Suzanna Hamilton, Julia Hills, Katherine Manners, Katie Matsell, Davina Moon, Huw Parmenter and Gillian Saker will join the previously announced Susie Blake and Simon Shepherd. The Mirror Crack'd will be a European Premiere, opening at Salisbury Playhouse on 15 February before touring to Dublin, Cambridge and Cardiff. The Mirror Crack'd will have an Opening Night on 25 February.

On November 11, 2018, people everywhere will commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One with events, speeches, prayers, and moments of silence. At The Progress Theatre in Reading, a special performance of Birdsong, Rachel Wagstaff's adaptation of the novel by Sebastian Faulks, is being mounted to commemorate the lives lost to the war, and to raise money for British Legion. I sat down with director Steph Dewar, who told me why Birdsong is special to her, what her cast has done to prepare, and how theatre can help keep history alive.

Wales Millennium Centre and Wiltshire Creative have today announced initial casting for the first ever UK stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's much-loved Miss Marple thriller The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. The Mirror Crack'd will be a European Premiere, opening at Salisbury Playhouse on 15 February before touring to Dublin, Cambridge and Cardiff. The Mirror Crack'd will have an Opening Night on 25 February.

Samantha plays Rachel Watson who longs for a different life. Her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love. Or so it appears. When Rachel learns that the woman she's been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as a witness and even a suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could ever have anticipated.

First staged at Sheffield Theatres for a short run in 2016, Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff's Flowers for Mrs Harris is brought to life again by Daniel Evans at Chichester Festival Theatre. With Clare Burt returning to the title role, it becomes a tear-jerking, runaway success that will not fail to touch the hearts of its audience.

Samantha Womack stars in a new production of The Girl on the Train, a gripping thriller based on the internationally acclaimed number one best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins and the Dreamworks film. The Girl on the Train begins a major tour of the UK & Ireland on 21 January 2019 in Milton Keynes. (Tour schedule below).

Birdsong, based on the book by Sebastian Faulks, is a brutal and beautiful observation of war and remembrance, with this new revival touring in time for the Armistice centenary this November.