Silence of the Lambs stage play to tour in 2026

The world stage premiere of The Silence of the Lambs will debut next August.

The play is adapted by Gina Gionfriddo from Thomas Harris’s novel and directed by Nikolai Foster. The story follows FBI trainee Clarice Starling as she interviews psychiatrist and convicted murderer Hannibal Lecter in the hope that his insight will help catch a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill. Another victim is missing and time is running out.

Harris’s novels featuring Lecter have sold over 50 million copies worldwide and inspired multiple film and television adaptations. The Silence of the Lambs was first published in 1988 and remains a landmark in the thriller genre, famously being turned into a seminal psychological thriller of the same name starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

Gionfriddo said today: “Thomas Harris’ novel speaks so eloquently to the interior terrors that fuel his iconic characters – both the monsters and the heroes who slay them. What a privilege it has been to bring these stories to the stage.”

It will open at Curve, Leicester, where it runs from 1 to 15 August 2026 before a UK and Ireland tour, stopping in Newcastle, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Salford, Bradford, Oxford, Peterborough, Hull, Belfast, Dublin, Birmingham, Blackpool, Eastbourne, Malvern, Swansea, Chester, Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, York, Coventry, Richmond, Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton, Cardiff, Buxton, Woking, Liverpool, Sunderland and other venues through 2027.

Foster continues: “We’ve long wanted to present a Made at Curve thriller onstage in Leicester, and The Silence of the Lambs is surely the most electrifying and frightening of this genre. At the heart of this play is the remarkable relationship between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter; through their gripping meetings, these two fascinating characters develop a compelling relationship. Harris’ novel is filled with stunning iconography and imagery that is ripe for theatrical invention. We can’t wait to see it burst to life onstage.”

Full creative team and casting will be announced later. Tickets for the Curve run go on sale from 2 December 2025.

It is produced by Indigo Productions and Crossroads Live, in association with Curve.