Jack Gleeson, Phia Saban, Anoushka Lucas, Lucy McCormick, Khalid Abdalla and Mei Mac will take turns, two a night and entirely unrehearsed, in the UK premiere of Good Sex by Dead Centre and Emilie Pine at Battersea Arts Centre from 4-6 November 2026.
Jack Gleeson, who played Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, and Phia Saban, Queen Helaena Targaryen in House of the Dragon, go first on Wednesday 4 November, the press night of Good Sex. The Dublin company Dead Centre and the novelist and essayist Emilie Pine bring the piece to London after runs in Ireland and New York.
The casting changes every night because the format demands it. Each pair of actors arrives as strangers, without having rehearsed together or read the script, and tells a story of desire, betrayal and loneliness with an intimacy director beside them on stage, coaching them through every touch so that what follows stays safe and consensual. Battersea Arts Centre first named the production as part of its autumn-winter season in July.
On Thursday 5 November the pair is Anoushka Lucas, whose stage credits include Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre and the Young Vic’s Oklahoma!, which went on to the West End, and Lucy McCormick, recently in Are You Watching? at the Royal Court and currently a joint recipient of Battersea Arts Centre’s Making Waves 2025 Commission.
Khalid Abdalla and Mei Mac close the run on Friday 6 November. Abdalla played Dodi Fayed in Netflix’s The Crown and took the lead in the film of The Kite Runner, and his own play Nowhere premiered at Battersea Arts Centre in 2024. Mac’s theatre work includes My Neighbour Totoro for the RSC and Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play at the Royal Exchange and the Young Vic.
Ben Kidd directs, with Bush Moukarzel as dramaturg; the two lead Dead Centre as artistic directors, and Tilly Taylor produces. Liv O’Donoghue, Maeve O’Mahony and Barry McKiernan also appear. Stage design is by Aedín Cosgrove, lighting by Stephen Dodd, sound and music by Jenny O’Malley and costumes by Mae Leahy, while Sue Mythen and Abigail Kessel are responsible for the intimacy direction.
Dead Centre’s trailer for the production:
If the player does not load, watch the trailer on YouTube.
Performances begin at 7.30pm and run 80 minutes with no interval, and the show is recommended for ages 14 and over. Tickets are Pay What You Can, with £25 suggested. Every performance is relaxed, and Thursday 5 November is BSL interpreted by Ali Gordon. Battersea Arts Centre is on Lavender Hill, SW11 5TN.
For more information, visit the official website.
