Cast and creative team announced for the world premiere of Murder Before Evensong
by Best of Theatre Staff on Tuesday 4 August 2026, 12:52 pm in Cast Changes and Announcements
The Watermill Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for the world premiere stage adaptation of Murder Before Evensong, starring Ian Hallard as Canon Daniel Clement, with two extra performances added due to extraordinary demand.
Newbury’s award-winning Watermill Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for the world premiere stage adaptation of Reverend Richard Coles’ bestselling mystery novel Murder Before Evensong, which plays from Friday 25 September to Saturday 14 November 2026. Two further performances have been added on Monday 26 October and Monday 2 November due to extraordinary demand, with a national press night on Tuesday 29 September.
Ian Hallard (The Way Old Friends Do at the Criterion Theatre, The Boys in the Band at the Vaudeville Theatre, Great Britain at the National Theatre) leads the company as Canon Daniel Clement. He is joined by Ajani Cabey (Hamnet at the RSC, in the West End and on US tour) as Alex de Floures and Harvey Porteous; Caroline Gruber (Glorious UK tour, Witness for the Prosecution at London County Hall) as Audrey Clement and Kath Sharman; and David Hounslow (Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe, All My Sons at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) as Bernard de Floures, Ned Thwaite and Edgy Liversedge.
Kate Russell-Smith (Fawlty Towers in the West End, Camp Albion at the Watermill Theatre) plays Honoria de Floures, Dora Sharman and Anne Dollinger; Jaz Singh Deol (The Unbelievers at the Royal Court, Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith) plays D.S. Neil Vanloo and Anthony Bowness; Julie Teal (The Chalk Garden at Theatre Royal Windsor) plays Stella Harper and Margaret Porteous; and Alex Wilson (Lark Rise to Candleford at the Watermill Theatre) plays both Theo Clement and Nathan Liversedge.
The novel has been adapted for the stage by Paul Hart and Shaun McKenna, the pair behind the multi-award-winning 2023 production of The Lord of the Rings. Set in 1988, the story unfolds in the postcard-perfect village of Champton, where life revolves around St Mary’s Church. When a shocking murder shatters the parish’s quiet routines, suspicion spreads, long-buried secrets rise to the surface and Canon Daniel Clement is drawn into a dangerous investigation.
Paul Hart directs, with set and costume design by Ceci Calf, lighting design by Charly Dunford, sound design by Steven Atkinson, video design by Rachel Sampley, intimacy direction by Foxy, dialect coaching by Elspeth Morrison and Lilac Yosiphon as associate director. Casting is by Cydney Beech.
Paul Hart said: "It takes a village to create… a village. And the Watermill is surely the most perfect theatre in the country to bring Richard’s glorious novel to the stage. We have assembled an extraordinary cast who will bring vivid detail and incredible range to the various, beloved characters who make up this community. And I’m delighted to be collaborating again with this creative team who we last worked with on The Autobiography of a Cad. We can’t wait to bring this world premiere to life."
Richard Coles will also appear at the theatre during the run, in conversation at An Audience with Richard Coles on Friday 16 October 2026 at 2.30pm. The fundraising event covers his inspiration for the novel and how he captures the essence of English village life in his fiction, and is followed by a book signing. All profits go towards supporting the Watermill Theatre’s work on and off the stage.