The Donmar Warehouse today announces an arresting new stage adaptation of Muriel Spark’s iconic novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Scottish playwright David Harrower, in the 100th anniversary year of Muriel Spark’s birth. The production will star Lia Williams in the title role, with rising talent Rona Morison, alongside a cast including Nicola Coughlan, Emma Hindle, Grace Saif, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Helena Wilson, Angus Wright and Kit Young. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie will be directed by Polly Findlay, who returns to the Donmar following her acclaimed production of Limehouse.

Artistic Director Josie Rourke said:
“In the centenary year of her birth, Muriel Spark’s iconic novel, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, has been adapted for the Donmar by leading playwright, David Harrower. It’s wonderful to have these two major Scottish voices join in concert on the Donmar stage. Directing the production, we herald the return of one our most significant and exciting directors, Polly Findlay, whose production of Limehouse was a resounding triumph last year. Lia Williams and rising talent Rona Morison lead the cast.”

At Marcia Blaine School for Girls, Miss Jean Brodie presides over her ‘set’, her chosen few. In return for their absolute devotion, Miss Brodie will provide an education far beyond the confines of the curriculum.
Great teachers leave a mark. Miss Jean Brodie’s will never be erased.

PRESS NIGHT: Tuesday 12 June Director Polly Findlay
Designer Lizzie Clachan
Lighting Designer Charles Balfour
Sound Design Paul Arditti
Composition Marc Tritschler
Movement Director Naomi Said

The Donmar’s free ticket scheme for those aged 25 and under, YOUNG+FREE, will continue to offer seats for performances of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with tickets released via ballot on the final Friday of every month.

YOUNG+FREE is funded through the generosity of audiences via the Donmar’s PAY IT FORWARD scheme. These donations and the partnership support of Delta Air Lines have allowed the Donmar to allocate more than 11,000 free tickets to those aged 25 and under over the past year.

KLAXON tickets will also continue across the run. Starting from £10, KLAXON tickets are released for sale every Monday for performances in the following three weeks. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band. Audiences can sign up to receive information about tickets on the Donmar’s website www.donmarwarehouse.com


David Harrower (Playwright) is an internationally acclaimed playwright who currently lives and works in Glasgow. Previous work includes Knives in Hens (Traverse Theatre/Bush Theatre) recently revived at the Donmar, Ciara (Traverse Theatre), A Slow Air (Tron Theatre), Good With People (Paines Plough/Oran Mor, Traverse Theatre), Blackbird (Edinburgh International Festival), Dark Earth (Traverse Theatre), Presence (Royal Court) and Kill the Old Torture Their Young (Traverse Theatre). Adaptations include Public Enemy, The Government Inspector, Sweet Nothings, The Good Soul of Szechuan, Six Characters in Search of an Author (all Young Vic), Tales From the Vienna Woods, Ivanov (both National Theatre), Woyzeck (Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre), Mary Stuart (National Theatre of Scotland) and The Chrysalids (National Theatre, BT Connections). David’s work for the screen includes Una, directed by Benedict Andrews and Outlaw King directed by David Mackenzie. He is the winner of an Olivier Award for Best Play (Blackbird), two CATS Awards for Best Play (Blackbird, Ciara) and numerous other awards.

Polly Findlay (Director) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after her production of Limehouse by Steve Waters. Polly was the joint winner (with Derren Brown) of the 2012 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for DERREN BROWN: SVENGALI. She won the JMK Award for Young Directors in 2007 and was awarded the 2006/7 Bulldog Princeps Bursary at the NT Studio. Directing credits include Macbeth (RSC), Beginning (National Theatre and West End), Ghosts (HOME Manchester) The Alchemist (RSC and The Barbican), As You Like It (National Theatre), Frǿken Julie (Aarhus Theatre, Denmark), The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Treasure Island (National Theatre), Krapp’s Last Tape (Sheffield Crucible), Arden of Faversham (RSC), Protest Song (The Shed, National Theatre), Gefährten/Warhorse (National Theatre/Theater des Westens, Berlin), A Taste of Honey (Sheffield Crucible), The Country Wife (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Antigone (National Theatre), Good (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Swan and Nightwatchman (Double Feature - National Theatre, Paintframe), Twisted Tales (Lyric Hammersmith), Honest (Royal & Derngate and Milnes Bar, Edinburgh, 2011), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire and Thyestes (Arcola Theatre), Eigengrau (Bush Theatre), and Romeo and Juliet (BAC).

Nicola Coughlan (Joyce-Emily) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Her theatre credits include Jess and Joe Forever (Orange Tree Theatre, Traverse Theatre and Old Vic), Nadya (Park Theatre), Duck (Out of Joint) and Chapel Street (UK Tour). Television credits include Derry Girls, Harlots.
Emma Hindle (Mary) trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and makes her professional stage debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Donmar Warehouse.

Rona Morison (Sandy) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Her theatre work includes Dead Don’t Floss (National Theatre), Glory on Earth (Royal Lyceum Theatre), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Southwark Playhouse), Julie (Northern Stage), The Crucible (Bristol Old Vic), Scuttlers (Royal Exchange, Manchester), The James Plays (National Theatre/National Theatre of Scotland), Anhedonia (Royal Court), To Kill a Mockingbird (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Illusions (Bush Theatre), The Second Mrs Tanqueray (Rose Theatre Kingston), and Crave (ATC). For television

her credits include Decline and Fall and her film credits include Ready Player One, Love Bite and The Boy I Loved.
Grace Saif (Monica) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie. Previous theatre credits include Saint George and the Dragon (National Theatre) and Mary Stuart (Almeida).

Sylvestra Le Touzel (Miss Mackay) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after starring in Les Parents Terribles and Ivanov. Her other stage credits include Giving (Hampstead Theatre), Waste (National Theatre), The Audience (Stephen Daldry, Playful Productions),The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC), Topless Mum (Tricycle Theatre), Wild East (Royal Court) Benefactors (Albery Theatre/Tour) Hayfever (Savoy Theatre), A Midsummer's Night Dream (Almeida Theatre) Les Enfants Du Paradis, Artists and Admirers, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Twelfth Night, Henry IV parts I & 11 (all RSC), An Inspector Calls (Aldwych Theatre), Imagine Drowning (Hampstead Theatre), The Illusion, Marya (both at The Old Vic), My Hearts a Suitcase, Ourselves Alone (both Royal Court). Her television credits include The Crown, Endeavour, Death In Paradise, Big School, Utopia, Father Brown, The Politician's Husband and The Thick Of It; her film credits include The Death Of Stalin, Mr Turner, Cloud Atlas, The Iron Lady, Happy-Go-Lucky, Amazing Grace and The Short and Curlies.

Lia Williams (Jean Brodie) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after starring in The Lover and The Collection. Her most recent theatre credits include Mary Stuart (Almeida and West End) and Oresteia for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress (Almeida and West End). Other theatre credits include The Revengers’ Comedies for which she was nominated for an Olivier for Best Comedy Performance, Old Times (West End), Arcadia and Skylight for which she was Olivier and Tony nominated(National Theatre, West End and Broadway), Earthquakes in London, The Hothouse and Mappa Mundi (National Theatre), Oleanna, King Lear and My Child (Royal Court), The Homecoming (Gate Theatre, Dublin, West End and Broadway) and Celebration/The Room (Almeida and New York). Her television credits include Kiri, Strike: Silkworm, The Missing, The Crown, Secret State, Doc Martin, May 33rd (BAFTA nomination for Best Actress), The Russian Bride, Imogen’s Face, A Shot Through the Heart, Seaforth and Mr Wroe’s Virgins. Film includes The Foreigner, Jonathan Toomey, The King is Alive, Different for Girls, The Fifth Province, Firelight, Dirty Weekend and La Suite Blanche-Neige. As Director, her theatre credits include The Match Box for the Liverpool Playhouse and the Tricycle Theatre and the films Feathers, The Stronger (BAFTA nomination for Best Short Film), Dog Alone and the feature documentary Nanabozhung.

Helena Wilson (Jenny) returns to the Donmar Warehouse after her performance in The Lady from the Sea directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah. Helena’s theatre credits include Love Me Now (Tristan Bates Theatre), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (The Old Vic), Romeo and Juliet (Thelma Holt International Tour), The Alchemist (OUDS National Tour), Breathing Corpses (Knack Kneed Theatre), The Architect (Hypnotist Theatre), Dahling, You Were Marvellous! (Burton Taylor Studio), Lord of the Flies (O'Reilly Theatre), Slag (Burton Taylor Studio) and Cabaret (Robinson Theatre).

Angus Wright (Gordon Lowther) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. His recent credits include Hamlet (Almeida and Harold Pinter Theatre), 1984 (Playhouse Theatre), Oresteia (Almeida and Trafalgar Studios), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Almeida). Other theatre credits include The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic), Twelfth Night and Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe on Broadway), Privates on Parade (Michael Grandage Company), The Master and Margarita (Complicite), The Cat in The Hat (National Theatre and Young Vic), Wastwater (Royal Court), Design for Living (Old Vic), The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Talk of the City, The Theban Plays, The Dybbuk, Henry IV parts i & ii (all RSC), Measure for Measure (Complicite and National Theatre), Mrs Affleck, War Horse, Saint Joan, The Seagull, Dream Play, Stuff Happens, Three Sisters, Chips with Everything and Mother Courage (all National Theatre). His television credits include Flowers, Peep Show, Father Brown, Being Human, Breathless, Murder on the Home Front, Above Suspicion, Boudica, Cambridge Spies, The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall, The Way We Live Now and Between the Lines. Angus’ film credits include Rogue One, A Little Chaos, Jack Ryan, Maleficent, Closed Circuit, Private Peaceful, The Iron Lady, Affair of the Necklace, Kingdom of Heaven, RKO 281, The Bank Job, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Charlotte Gray, Cutthroat Island, First Knight, Labyrinth, and Frankenstein.

Kit Young (The Journalist) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. His theatre credits include Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), The Real Thing (Theatre Royal Bath) and The Extraordinary Cabaret Of Dorian Gray (Underbelly Theatre). His short film credits include The Devil’s Harmony.

CURRENT SEASON
Donmar Associate and Sheffield Theatres Artistic Director Robert Hastie’s acclaimed revival of Peter Gill’s The York Realist is currently running on the Donmar stage before moving to the Sheffield Crucible from 27 March.
Following this, James Macdonald’s production of The Way of the World – Congreve’s masterpiece Restoration comedy – will run from late March, with a cast including Haydn Gwynne as Lady Wishfort.

Members Priority Booking for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie:

Steel level from 10am and Copper level from noon on Monday 26 March 2018 Friends from 10am on Wednesday 28 March 2018

Public Booking for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: From 10am on Wednesday 4 April 2018

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