Janette Manrara and Rupert Young join Noah Schnapp in Affluenza at Riverside Studios

Further casting is in for Affluenza, the world premiere that launches the Mainstage Season 26/27 at Riverside Studios this autumn. Janette Manrara, Rupert Young, Juliet Cowan and Wallis Currie-Wood join the previously announced Noah Schnapp in the company of the new play, which Andy Sandberg has both written and directed. It runs from 26 September to 21 November 2026, with press night on Monday 5 October.

Manrara reached the final as a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing and co-hosted It Takes Two until 2025; she made her musical theatre debut last year as Roxie Hart in Chicago, touring more than 20 venues across the UK and Ireland. Young picked up an Olivier Award nomination for Dear Evan Hansen at the Noel Coward Theatre, and has since been seen in Flyby at Southwark Playhouse and on screen in Bridgerton. Cowan appeared in Broken Glass at the Young Vic and her television work takes in Am I Being Unreasonable?, Big Boys and I Hate Suzie. Currie-Wood, born in Texas, Juilliard-trained and now based in London, was a series regular as Stevie McCord in CBS's Madam Secretary and has played in Elektra in the West End.

Schnapp, who makes his stage debut here, played Will Byers across all five seasons of Netflix's Stranger Things.

"This cast is absolutely extraordinary, and I'm beyond grateful to be working with such a gifted company," said Andy Sandberg. "To see how each of these brilliant actors has responded to the 'Affluenza' script and story is inspiring, and I could not be more excited that they are joining our exceptional creative team to debut this play at Riverside Studios."

The play takes its name from a legal defence that caused an outcry in the United States: the argument that a young defendant had been raised too comfortably to tell right from wrong. Set among the wealth of the Hamptons and drawn from real events, it follows what happens after a teenager's drunken drive ends in catastrophe, and asks who is ever made to answer for it. The production sums itself up in a line: "Privilege is inherited. So are the consequences."

Performances run Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm, with Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm. There is no performance on 1 October at 7.30pm or 7 November at 2.30pm, while extra performances have been added on 4 October at 7.30pm and 3 November at 2.30pm. A captioned performance is scheduled for 14 November at 2.30pm. Tickets are on sale now from £25, concessions are available, and every seat is £25 for the first preview of each production in the season.

Affluenza is the first of five new plays in the Mainstage Season 26/27, each given a limited eight-week run at Riverside Studios and largely set in contemporary America. Sandberg, Artistic Director of the Hermitage Artist Retreat in the United States, is the season's Artistic Director and will direct every production. Three titles have been announced so far:

• 26 September - 21 November 2026: Affluenza, written and directed by Andy Sandberg (press night 5 October)
• 5 December 2026 - 23 January 2027: Sacrilegious, by Tom Schulman, the Oscar-winning writer of Dead Poets Society and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (press night 15 December)
• 30 January - 27 March 2027: Expecting, by Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola (press night 9 February)

Sandberg's creative team has Charlie Corcoran designing the set and Hannah Schmidt as costume designer and associate set designer, with lighting by Jack Weir and sound by Emily Drohan. Nicholas Hockaday is casting director, Cecilie Fray associate director and Florence Carr-Jones assistant director, and additional material is by Scott Elmegreen. The season is presented by ABS Productions, Whitney Edwards, Flora Major, Judith Manocherian, Sondra Biller, Drew & Dane & Whitney, and Berman-Cohen Productions.