Juliet Stevenson, Adjoa Andoh, Rosie O'Donnell, Samuel West and Olivia Williams are among the first 15 names announced for the UK premiere of The Pelicot Trial, a single four-hour performance at London County Hall on 30 November.
Juliet Stevenson, Adjoa Andoh and Rosie O'Donnell are among the first performers confirmed for The Pelicot Trial, the documentary theatre piece by Milo Rau and Servane Dècle that the Young Vic is staging in London for one night only.
They are joined by Nicole Ansari-Cox, Lorraine Ashbourne, Leo Bill, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Alfred Enoch, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Rosie Jones, Kadiff Kirwan, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jordan Stephens, Samuel West and Olivia Williams. The 15 form half of a company of 30 actors and public figures, and the remaining names are due to be announced over the coming weeks.
Stevenson, who won an Olivier Award for Death and the Maiden, and Andoh, familiar to screen audiences from Bridgerton, bring long stage careers to a production that asks its company to speak the record of a real case.
The case is that of Gisèle Pelicot, in which 51 men were prosecuted for the repeated rape of a woman while she was unconscious, in the small town of Mazan in the south of France. Testimony and written accounts from the trial are set alongside police files, psychiatric reports on the defendants and social commentary. Pelicot's decision to have the hearings held in public, and her words "Shame has to change sides", turned her into a symbol of resilience in the fight against sexual violence.
Rau and Dècle developed the piece with journalists, anthropologists and local feminist organisations in France, with production dramaturgy by Nastasia Griese. It opened at the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna on 18 June 2025 and has since been performed in cities including Avignon, New York, Lisbon, Milan and Bergen, with a new company assembled in each.
The London premiere, announced last month, takes place in the Chamber at London County Hall, home of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution. The Young Vic presents it with Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions, with support from the Olwyn Foundation for Women and Girls.
The Young Vic will also stream the whole four-hour performance live on its YouTube channel, free to watch.
Tickets go on general sale on Wednesday 7 October. The Pelicot Trial is performed once only, from 6pm to 10pm on Monday 30 November 2026, in the Chamber at London County Hall.
