Charlie Cox will play the small-time crook Vince in the world premiere of Stuart Slade’s The King’s Ransom at the Donmar Warehouse, as the full company for Matthew Dunster’s production is confirmed.
Charlie Cox, who appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in The Prince of Homburg, returns to the Covent Garden theatre to lead The King’s Ransom, a new play by Stuart Slade. Previews start on 5 December 2026, press night is Wednesday 16 December 2026, and the run continues until 6 February 2027.
Blake Harrison, known to television audiences from The Inbetweeners, plays Rusty, and Cherrelle Skeete is Mike. The rest of the company is Tom Fletcher as Charlie, Matthew Flynn as Mr Bluefield, Leo Patrick as Jessie Lee, Jenny Rainsford as Rhonda / Jenny, Christopher Short as Elvis and Ronnie Yorke as Red. Three performers share the role of Martha: Ruby Barker, Eira Kay and Trixie Willis.
Several of the company will be familiar from the West End. Skeete’s credits include The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre. Short has appeared in Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre and The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion, while Yorke has been part of The Play That Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre. Harrison was in Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre, and Cox, whose screen work includes Daredevil and Boardwalk Empire, has appeared in Betrayal in the West End and on Broadway.
The play is set in Memphis in 1977. A mysterious criminal mastermind hands Vince Black, a crook who has never pulled off anything big, the chance of a lifetime: steal the body of Elvis Presley, keep it on ice in a chest freezer and demand a million dollars for its return. Vince pulls together a crew of oddballs and drifters for the job. Slade took his starting point from one of the more bizarre true-crime episodes in American history, and the Donmar describes the result as a dark comedy of the American South about loss, second chances and very poor judgement.
Slade’s earlier plays include BU21, Cans and Glee & Me, which won the Judges’ Award at the Bruntwood Prize. Dunster also comes back to the Donmar, having directed Dealer’s Choice there; his other work includes 2:22 A Ghost Story, Shirley Valentine and The Hunger Games: On Stage. He is joined by set designer Anna Fleischle, costume designer Jean Chan, lighting designer Sally Ferguson, sound designer Holly Khan and illusion designer Chris Cox, with fight and intimacy direction by Ruth Cooper-Brown and Rachel Bown-Williams of Rc-Annie and casting by Lotte Hines CDG.
The Donmar first named the play in July, alongside its revival of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, which follows it into the theatre from 13 February 2027. Before then the season continues with A Month in the Country, playing until 3 October, and Ilford Boy, from 10 October to 28 November.
Tickets for The King’s Ransom are £76, £59 and £30, reduced to £71, £54 and £25 for the first four previews, and £15 standing tickets will go on sale later. Evening performances are Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm, with matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays at 2.30pm. There is a captioned performance on Monday 25 January 2027 at 7.30pm and an audio-described performance on Saturday 30 January 2027 at 2.30pm. Book at the Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials.
