Milo Rau and Servane Dècle's documentary piece on the Gisèle Pelicot case reaches London for a single evening, read by a company of 30 that includes Juliet Stevenson, Adjoa Andoh and Rosie O'Donnell. Here is everything you need to know before 30 November.
The Pelicot Trial receives its UK premiere on Monday 30 November 2026, in one performance of around four hours. The venue is the Chamber at London County Hall, which has been home to Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution since 2017. The Young Vic is presenting it away from its own theatre, and the evening is unusual in another respect too: there is no run to follow, and no second chance to see it from a seat.
Who is starring in The Pelicot Trial?
There are no roles in the usual sense. The text is read by a company of 30 actors and public figures, of whom 15 have been named so far: Adjoa Andoh, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Lorraine Ashbourne, Leo Bill, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Alfred Enoch, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Rosie Jones, Kadiff Kirwan, Rosie O'Donnell, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jordan Stephens, Juliet Stevenson, Samuel West and Olivia Williams.
Juliet Stevenson won an Olivier Award for Death and the Maiden, Adjoa Andoh is familiar to television audiences from Bridgerton, and Rosie O'Donnell is the American comedian and actor. The announcement of their casting, and of the first names alongside them, is in our earlier report.
What is The Pelicot Trial about?
In 2024, 51 men stood trial in France over the repeated rape of Gisèle Pelicot, who had been drugged by her then husband, Dominique Pelicot, and raped while unconscious over a period of years in the small town of Mazan, in the south of France. She waived her right to anonymity and chose to have the hearings held in public, and her words, "Shame has to change sides", were quoted around the world.
The piece does not dramatise those events. It assembles testimony and written accounts from the trial, police files, psychiatric reports on the defendants and wider social commentary, and sets them side by side. Its makers present it as a sociological study as much as a piece of theatre: its subject is that the accused were ordinary men, of every age and social class, from an ordinary Western European town. It was developed with journalists, anthropologists and feminist organisations in France.
The production has drawn attention well beyond France. The New York Times summed it up as "Insight and Despair", and El País called it "A political act of memory". The material is as difficult as the subject suggests, including graphic descriptions of rape and sexual abuse, and the age guidance is strictly 16+.
Who is behind the production?
Research, text and direction are by the Swiss theatre-maker Milo Rau and Servane Dècle, with production dramaturgy by Nastasia Griese. Rau's work in documentary and re-enactment theatre includes Hate Radio and The Congo Tribunal; the Pelicot piece applies the same method to a courtroom record. It is a Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna production, first performed on 18 June 2025, and is presented in London by the Young Vic with Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions. The London performance is supported by Rosalind Riley and the Olwyn Foundation for Women and Girls.
When and where can I see it?
There is one performance, on Monday 30 November 2026, in the Chamber at London County Hall, and it runs for approximately four hours. Every seat has sold out, so the only tickets now are returns. The whole performance will, however, be live-streamed free of charge on the Young Vic's YouTube channel between 6pm and 10pm GMT that evening, which means it can be watched in full from anywhere.
Visitors with access requirements should note that there is no lift to the Chamber's three galleries, which are reached by 33 or more steps. Our page for The Pelicot Trial carries the details of the evening.
What else should I book if I like it?
The natural companion plays in the same room. Witness for the Prosecution turns the Chamber into the Old Bailey for Agatha Christie's courtroom drama, and is booking until 19 September 2027; its latest extension and cast are in our news pages. For a drama about state surveillance and the people caught in it, Robert Icke's The Lives of Others runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 9 January 2027, and our review roundup collects the notices. Back at the Young Vic's own theatre, Eurotrash continues until 9 January 2027.
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