Theatre News

Sarah Waters' The Night Watch to receive world premiere

The adaptation is set to open in Manchester in May

Emily Cole
Jodie McNee in Our COuntry's Good at the National
Jodie McNee in Our Country's Good at the National. She will star as Kay in The Night Watch.
© Simon Annand

Sarah Waters' novel The Night Watch is set to receive its world premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester next month.

Adapted by Hattie Naylor, the play is set in post-war London and follows the stories of five ordinary people through the upheaval of wartime London.

Waters is a multi-award winning writer with her 1998 novel Tipping the Velvet recently adapted for the stage at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Directed by Rebecca Gatward, the production marks the first of five world premieres in the Royal Exchange season. Gatward will direct Our Country's Good actress Jodie McNee as Kay as well as Lucy Briggs-Owen, Christopher Ettridge, Kelly Hotton, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Joe Jameson and Thalissa Teixeira.

The Night Watch runs at the Royal Exchange from 24 May to 18 June.