Rowling In It: Villain In Progress, the solo comedy Laura Kay Bailey wrote about being cast as J.K. Rowling, follows its run at the King's Head Theatre with a New York debut at Asylum NYC from 18-23 December 2026.
Laura Kay Bailey's solo comedy Rowling In It: Villain In Progress is heading to New York for Christmas. The show ran at the King's Head Theatre in Islington this spring, and now opens at Asylum NYC, a venue on East 24th Street in Manhattan, for a strictly limited engagement from 18-23 December 2026.
Bailey wrote the piece and performs it alone. It comes out of the job that put her in the headlines: in 2024 she was cast as J.K. Rowling in TERF, an Edinburgh Fringe play about the author, and spent that summer on the receiving end of online abuse, threats and press attention from around the world. The comedy is her backstage version of events, with targets on both sides: Rowling herself, and the performative activism Bailey met inside the theatre industry.
"I thought I'd landed an acting job. Instead I blindly stumbled into the middle of an international controversy. At a certain point, the only sensible response was to write a comedy about it," said Bailey.
Dominic Shaw, associate director of The Devil Wears Prada, directs, with dramaturgy by Jordan S. Daniel. The design credits are PJ McEvoy for video and Mark Fenton for sound, while Nina Morgen is credited with the original London lighting design.
LKB Productions presents the New York engagement, and Hannah Elsy produces through Hannah Elsy Productions. Elsy, a co-producer of The Ask at Theatre 555, has been here before with Dumbledore Is So Gay. "This comedy does not tell you what to think about J.K. Rowling, it's a dissection of Laura's journey to playing her, and gives you a dramatised account of the behind-the-scenes gossip on a tumultuous Edinburgh Fringe show," she said.
The London notices were warm. Theatre and Tonic, All That Dazzles, Reviews Gate and A Shiny Life For Me each gave the show four stars, The Spectator singled out Bailey's "fantastic array of comic impersonations", and the Daily Mail called it "a funny and engaging one-woman show".
There is nothing to book in London for now, as the King's Head run has closed. The New York dates run from Friday 18 December to Wednesday 23 December 2026 at Asylum NYC, 123 East 24th Street, with tickets sold by the venue.
