Niamh Cusack and Patrick Baladi to star in Christmas Eve

Niamh Cusack and Patrick Baladi will star in the new thriller Christmas Eve, which will run at Theatre Royal Bath's Ustinov Studio from 19 October to 18 November.

Originally written by German playwright Daniel Kehlmann, this new translation from Christopher Hampton (whose translationof The Lie is about to debut at the Menier Chocolate Factory) will be directed by Olivier Award-winner Laurence Boswell, who is also artistic director of the Studio.

The show is set across one evening on Christmas eve 2017, where a philosophy professor (Cusack) is interrogated by a senior police officer (Baladi) for a supposed role in a crime. Hampton's previous translation of Kehlmann's The Mentor had a West End run earlier this year.

Cusack has extensive theatre credits, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Playboy of the Western World. Baladi is most well known for his TV roles in The Office and, more recently, Line of Duty.

Christmas Eve is the first play in the Ustinov Studio’s international season of premieres. It will be followed by Will Eno’s The Open House, directed by Michael Boyd, which will run from 23 November to 23 December.

Christmas Eve will be at the Ustinov Studio from 25 October to 18 November, with previews from 19 October.