The Old Vic has announced the full cast for its all-new version of the Olivier Award-winning musical Martin Guerre, from Les Misérables creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, directed by Matthew Warchus. The semi-staged, in-the-round production plays for five weeks only, from 1 to 31 October 2026.
It’s an exciting lineup and one fitting for Martin Guerre: the company is led by Alex James-Hatton and Shane O’Riordan sharing the role of Martin, alongside Liv Andrusier as Bertrande, Colin Ryan as Benoit, Barney Wilkinson as Guillaume and Caroline Sheen as Madame de Rols. They are joined by Mathew Craig as Pierre, Aaron Lee Lambert as Judge, Adam Pearce as Father Dominic, and a company of younger performers taking on the show’s Young Martin, Young Bertrande, Young Benoit and Young Guillaume, alongside a wider ensemble.
Martin Guerre is a musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the creators of Les Misérables, telling the true story of a 16th-century Frenchman who disappears from his village and wife, only for a man claiming to be him to return years later, sparking a divisive trial over his real identity. First staged in the West End in 1996, it returns to London this October in an all-new, radically reworked version at The Old Vic, directed by Matthew Warchus, with new music and lyrics.
Reflecting on the production, Boublil and Schönberg said the pair were “thrilled that this timeless story is being brought back to life at The Old Vic, entirely reimagined,” thirty years on from Martin Guerre’s original premiere at London’s Prince Edward Theatre, calling it “a story of lies and passionate love, versus the truth — or perhaps more importantly what we each perceive to be true.”
Warchus, for whom this marks his penultimate production as The Old Vic’s Artistic Director, said he was “very excited to be sharing an all-new version of Boublil and Schönberg’s extraordinary musical,” describing a show that has been “radically reworked, featuring new lyrics, new folk-inflected orchestrations and an immersive in-the-round staging.“
View live availability for Martin Guerre here
Plan your visit to Martin Guerre
- Theatre: The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB
- Booking dates: 1 – 31 October 2026
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