Full casting has been announced for new George Eliot drama Bird Grove at Hampstead Theatre in London.
The world premiere production of Bird Grove is playing at Hampstead Theatre from 13 February to 21 March 2026.
Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell (The Pride, Apologia), Bird Grove promises to offer a fresh perspective on George Eliot, one of England’s greatest writers and whose real name was Mary Ann Evans, and a poignant exploration of family ties and self-determination.
Elizabeth Dulau (Andor, House of Guinness) stars as Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), alongside Tony Award winner and Game of Thrones star Owen Teale (A Doll’s House) as Robert Evans.
The cast will also feature Jonnie Broadbent (The Invention of Love) as Horace, Jolyon Coy (I, Joan) as Isaac Evans, Tom Espiner (Cow/Deer) as Charles Bray, Rebecca Scroggs (Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer) as Cara Bray, James Staddon (Coram Boy) as Monsieur Lafontaine / Hugo Barling, and Sarah Woodward (The Haystack) as Maria.
Directed by Anna Ledwich, the creative team also includes designer Sarah Beaton, lighting designer Matt Haskins and sound designer and composer Harry Blake. The casting director is Juliet Horsley.
In Bird Grove, the year is 1841 and Mary Ann Evans is of marriageable age – just. Her father, Robert, has recently moved with her to Bird Grove House, with the sole purpose of finding her a suitable husband through the local church. But Mary Ann’s remarkable intellect and growing self-confidence are forming progressive new ideas in her mind; ideas that challenge her father’s most strongly held beliefs.
Fuelled by every new book she reads and a burgeoning friendship with local radicals, Mary Ann finds it increasingly difficult to accept the rules of the world around her – bringing her into direct and bitter conflict with the father she adores. But perhaps that is the only way forward: to break every societal convention expected of her, find her voice, and become the writer she has always dreamt of being. After all, who can suppress the astounding gifts of future literary titan, George Eliot?
Tickets to Bird Grove
Bird Grove is running at Hampstead Theatre from 13 February to 21 March 2026.
Book tickets to Bird Grove at Hampstead Theatre in London
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