Lesley Manville and Anna Maxwell Martin to star in West End August: Osage County

It is widely regarded as one of the best plays of the century, and Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County will now be returning for a new West End production.

The casting is equally impressive – Lesley Manville and Anna Maxwell Martin will team up for the production, both returning to the London stage after previous star turns.

Letts’ play, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award, will be directed by Jeremy Herrin. Herrin’s previous work includes Every Brilliant Thing, People, Places and Things and Wolf Hall.

The play centres on the Weston family, who reunite at their home in Oklahoma following a family crisis. The reunion brings long-standing tensions and secrets to the surface. It made its premiere in Chicago in 2007, with a National Theatre-hosted UK premiere in November 2008.

Manville recently won the Tony Award for Best Actress for her turn in the Oedipus, and will play Violet Weston here.  Maxwell Martin, playing Barbara Fordham, has won a BAFTA twice – for Bleak House and Poppy Shakespeare. 

Manville said today: “I’m delighted to be taking on August: Osage County with Jeremy Herrin directing. It’s an epic piece of American literature written by the truly great Tracy Letts. It has not been seen in London for almost 20 years, so I cannot wait to bring this complex, funny, tragic, ultimate family saga to the West End and create the matriarch, Violet Weston.”

The production is set to open in the West End at the Noël Coward Theatre, running from 18 January 2027 for a 12-week season.

Herrin continued: “August: Osage County is one of the great plays of our time, and it firmly places Tracy Letts as heir to O’Neill, Miller and Williams in the continuum of the best American playwrights. It’s a darkly funny and gripping family drama that transcends its form. As a brilliant actor himself and long-standing member of Steppenwolf, Tracy knows how to write for actors. I’m excited to bring together a fantastic ensemble for the first major revival of this play. 

“I’m thrilled to be reunited with Lesley Manville after her Tony Award win, and I can’t wait to see her square up against Anna Maxwell Martin, whose work I’ve long admired. I’ve loved this play since I saw it on Broadway in 2008, and I can’t wait to explore all its twists and turns in the Noël Coward Theatre, the perfect space for this searing and epically entertaining show.”

Tickets go on sale at midday today, with further casting to be revealed.