The Duchess Tickets

It’s not just bottles of pumpkin spice syrup and pop up christmas shops that are opening this month, as a whole host of brand-new shows are falling into our laps.  

Whether you're craving fresh adaptations of beloved classics, such as Jodie Whittaker’s The Duchess (of Malfi) or Lesley Manville and Mark Strong’s Oedipus. Or you’re in the mood for a bold new production making its world premiere, like Steve Coogan’s Dr Strangelove, October's theatre openings are sure to ignite your imagination and keep you warm as the days grow cooler. Take a look at the must-see shows opening across theatreland this month.

Oedipus (4 October)

The mother of all tragedies is back. Olivier award winners Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Zero Dark Thirty) and Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, Mr. Turner) star in Robert Icke’s modern retelling of Sophocles’ classic tale of fate, guilt and self-discovery. 

Election night. The polls predict a landslide victory, and everything is about to change. Oedipus is a modern-day politician, he’s making up policies on the fly, content in the knowledge that no one will hold him up on his empty promises. He’s untouchable, until he isn’t.

A discussion of honesty, truth and public cover-ups, Oedipus is a public scandal in waiting. It would be a greek tragedy to miss it!

The Duchess (of Malfi) (5 October)

Jodie Whittaker returns to the stage for the first time in over a decade! The former Time Lord will be joined by Paul Ready (Motherland) and Joel Fry (Plebs) to bring Zinnie Harris’ ‘towering adaptation’ (The Stage) to life.

Just like its star, the 400 year old Jacobean text has been regenerated for a modern audience. Vivid, complex, and captivating, this contemporary production modernises the classic revenge story. With an empowered female lead, the text has been given a fresh new perspective, without losing its well-known warnings surrounding the effects of greed, envy, and power that’s made the play a historical hit. 

Recently widowed and in search of a new lease of life, the Duchess (Whittaker) defies her family’s wishes by remarrying beneath her class. However, when her brothers, driven by an insatiable need for power and ‘justice’, discover her second marriage they unleash a series of cruel and devastating punishments against her that repress her power. But will their vicious atrocities come back to haunt them?

First performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre in the early 1600s, everyone is invited to The Duchess (of Malfi)’s upcoming reign at the Trafalgar Theatre. 

Final casting has today been confirmed for Zinnie Harris’ acclaimed production of The Duchess (of Malfi). 

Motherland star Paul Ready, will join the previously announced Jodie Whittaker to take on the role of The Cardinal, a character infamous for his cold and calculating nature.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Paul Ready gushed: “I am thrilled to be joining The Duchess (of Malfi) cast and to dive into the complex world of The Cardinal. This character is a master of manipulation: under his outward appearance of respectability, he hides something darker and more sinister. It will be exciting to bring this to life in a way that resonates with contemporary audiences.”

The Grade II listed Trafalgar Theatre was originally built in the 1930s and was home to many comedies and revue shows. In the 1990s, the theatre was repurposed into a television and radio studio before it returned to theatrical use as Trafalgar Studios in 2004, with the auditorium converted into two separate studio spaces. After a multi-million pound project, the theatre reopened and was reinstated back to its original single-auditorium design. The black with silver, bronze and gold metallic decor within the newly restored auditorium are reflective of the original interior’s colour palette, and the carpet and seating fabric replicated using historical photographs as reference.

What are the best seats at the Trafalgar Theatre?

Split over two levels of the Stalls and Dress Circle the Trafalgar Theatre seats 630. The Stalls are on a raked floor and curve slightly towards the stage, other than Row Q which is flat against the back wall. The Dress Circle overhangs the Stalls from Row G backwards but doesn’t obstruct the view of the stage. The Dress Circle, on the first floor, is a single block of seats with an aisle at either end curving inwards towards the stage as in the Stalls. There are a few safety rails in the Dress Circle, none of which affect the view of the stage.

Trafalgar Theatre seating plan

Jodie Whittaker is ‘beyond delighted’ to return to the West End in Zinnie Haris’s critically acclaimed adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi, The Duchess. It marks her first stage appearance since Polly Findlay’s 5-star production of Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, in which she starred opposite fellow Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. 

Her turn in Antigone was hailed as a ‘wonderfully single-minded performance,’ in which she portrayed the would-be martyr as a dogged and determined young woman. This resolve is something she brings to all her characters, whether they are battling extraterrestrials in a council estate in Attack the Block or fighting for truth, justice and resolution in Broadchurch.  

Whilst we countdown the days until Jodie Whittaker makes her much anticipated return to theatre, we’ve rounded up our favourite performances from her impressive CV.

Black Mirror | The Entire History of You

Casting director, Shaheen Baig, hired Whittaker immediately after her audition, praising her ‘subtle and complex’ performance.

The series one season finale, The Entire History of You, first broadcast in 2011 and is still regarded as one of the best episodes in the sci-fi series history. In the near future, everyone has access to a memory implant that records everything they do, see and hear. You need never forget a face again - but is that always a good thing?

The ‘sophisticated and flawless’ instalment regularly tops the list of Black Mirror's best episodes, with Entertainment Weekly, Digital Spy and The Wrap all ranking it number one out of the programmes 27 strong episodes. This is in no small part thanks to Whittaker’s heartbreakingly raw performance as widow Ffion.

Attack the Block

A cult classic British sci-fi flick, and the launchpad for Golden Globe winner John Boyega, Attack the Block has an impressive 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jodie Whittaker stars as Samantha, a trainee nurse (she’d be promoted to doctor six years later), and the newest resident of crumbling council estate, Wyndham Tower. When her new home is invaded by creatures from the sky, the previously timid Samantha must find her resolve and fight off the alien attackers.

In a retrospective GQ magazine hailed the film as ‘one of the best genre-mashup of the decade’. The picture won an impressive 18 awards, including Special Jury Award at the 2011 Sitges Film Festival and Best First Feature at the 2011 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. Whittaker’s performance was praised for its poignancy, which elevated the comedy from a farce to a gritty social-realist picture.

Returning to the stage for the first time in over a decade, Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who, Broadchurch) is set to star in Zinnie Harris’ critically acclaimed and ‘marvellously modern’ (Telegraph) adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi. Playing for a strictly limited 11 week run at Trafalgar Theatre from 5 October, book your tickets through our exclusive pre-sale today.