Never Let Me Go world premiere announces complete cast

Full casting has been revealed for the upcoming stage adaptation of Never Let Me Go.

Based on the Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-selling novel, the play is penned by Suzanne Heathcote and directed by Christopher Haydon.

The piece explores a collision between memory and reality and challenges us to consider what it means to be human, to love and to lose.

Ishiguro commented: “I’m filled with excitement by the news of the upcoming production of Never Let Me Go. Suzanne Heathcote is a superb writer for both stage and screen. Christopher Haydon directed a beautiful adaptation of my The Remains of the Day not long ago. And the arrival of this new version of Never Let Me Go feels particularly well-timed. Its central question – How do we find and hold onto love in a world ruled by out-of-control science and savage hierarchical structures? – feels even more haunting today than when I wrote the novel 20 years ago. I look forward to discovering how this wonderfully talented team will re-imagine the story for the stage and for our time.”

Haydon added: “Never Let Me Go has been among my favourite novels since I first read it two decades ago. It is an achingly beautiful story of how we maintain hope, and continue to love in the face of a hostile world. It’s become one of the world’s best-loved novels and has all of the elements of a great piece of theatre. I’m thrilled to be heading into the rehearsal room today to start bringing this incredible story to life with this cast.”

The company includes Amelie Abbott (as Hannah/Chrissi), Susan Aderin (as Miss Emily), Matilda Bailes (as Ruth), Nell Barlow (as Kathy), Maximus Evans (as Philip), Angus Imrie (as Tommy), Princess Khumalo (as Laura), Emile Patry (as Miss Lucy/Madame), and Tristan Waterson (as Rodney/Alfie).

Alongside Heathcote and Haydon, the creative team includes Tom Piper (set and costume designer), Ayse Tashkiran (movement director), Joshua Carr (lighting designer), Eamonn O’Dwyer (composer), Carolyn Downing (sound designer), Sam Jones (casting director), Haruka Kuroda (fight director), and Emma Denson (assistant director).

WhatsOnStage Award nominee Marisha Wallace (Guys and Dolls) has also recorded the title song for the production, which can be heard below.

Never Let Me Go will debut at the Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames (20 September to 12 October 2024, with a press night set for 25 September) and will then tour to Northampton’s Royal and Derngate (16 to 26 October), Malvern Theatres (29 October to 2 November), Bristol Old Vic (5 to 23 November) and Chichester Festival Theatre (26 to 30 November).