Sophie Okonedo to lead A Month in the Country at the Donmar

Olivier and Emmy Award winner Sophie Okonedo is to lead the company of A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse, with full cast and creative team announced today.

Okonedo makes her Donmar debut as Natalya Petrovna in Brian Friel’s reworking of Ivan Turgenev’s classic, directed by Lyndsey Turner. The production runs from 22 August to 3 October 2026.

A starry company

Sophie Okonedo leads the strong ensemble cast. A Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee whose recent stage work includes Medea at @sohoplace and Antony and Cleopatra at the National Theatre, she’s proven herself to be a powerhouse of the modern stage.

She is joined by Thomas Arnold as Arkady Islayev, Jessica Brindle as Katya, Susan Brown as Anna Islayeva, Rachelle Diedericks as Vera Aleksandrovna, Patrick Gibson as Aleksey Belyayev, Mark Hadfield as Herr Schaaf, Michael Hodgson as Alfanasy Bolshintsov, Jonathan Livingstone as Matvey, Alistair Petrie as Michel Rakitin, Daniel Rigby as Ignaty Shpigelsky, and Amanda Wilkin as Lizaveta Bogdanovna.

Several of the company bring notable screen credits, among them Alistair Petrie (Sex Education, The Night Manager), Patrick Gibson (Dexter: Original Sin, Shadow and Bone) and BAFTA winner Daniel Rigby.

About A Month in the Country

Promotional poster for 'A Month in the Country' showing a woman in a burgundy dress seated among flowers, with bold white title text on a pink background.

A beautiful house in the Russian countryside. A doting husband, a circle of admirers. A life of order, tranquillity and quiet restraint… it’s all enough to make you scream.

Natalya Petrovna looks, to all the world, like a contented woman, but the arrival of a penniless young tutor stirs a restless heart, igniting a spark of desire that sets the summer ablaze.

A Month in the Country pits passion against propriety, as a cast of characters struggle to reconcile the lives they lead with the happiness they crave.

Turgenev’s most famous play is presented here in a reworking by Brian Friel (1929–2015), widely regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest dramatists and the author of Dancing at Lughnasa, Translations and Faith Healer.

Lynsey Turner returns to the Donmar

The production reunites Friel’s text with director Lyndsey Turner, who returns to the Donmar following acclaimed stagings of Aristocrats, Faith Healer and Philadelphia, Here I Come!, and whose wider credits include the Olivier-winning Chimerica.

She is joined by a creative team including designer Leslie Travers, lighting designer Tim Lutkin, composer Angus MacRae and sound designer Max Pappenheim.

Plan your visit to A Month in the Country

Theatre: Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Booking dates: 22 August – 3 October 2026 (press night 2 September)
Performance schedule: Monday–Saturday 7.30pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees 2.30pm

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Main photo: A Month in the Country Starring Sophie Okonedo