Laura Main takes over as The Dresser in By Royal Appointment, joining Jane Asher for a UK tour that opens in Cambridge on 24 September 2026.
Laura Main takes the role of The Dresser in the UK tour of By Royal Appointment, which opens at the Arts Theatre Cambridge on 24 September 2026. Main has played Shelagh Turner across all fifteen series of Call the Midwife, having joined it as Sister Bernadette. She replaces Samantha Womack, who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons.
She joins Jane Asher, who plays The Queen. The play is the first for the stage by Daisy Goodwin, who created the ITV series Victoria, and is directed by Anthony Banks. It turns on the relationship between the late Queen and the woman who dressed her, and on the public image the two of them built between them.
The premise is that a monarch famous for saying nothing contentious said a great deal through her wardrobe - charming the world in a coat, rebuking her family with a hat. She is not herself interested in fashion. That is handled by her Designer, her Milliner and, above all, her Dresser, who arrives as a working-class girl advising on lipstick and ends up the power behind the throne, and who, being a royal favourite, is on borrowed time.
The company also includes David Robb as The Designer, Matthew Cottle as The Milliner and Laura Matthews as The Curator, with Jeremy Drakes as a Footman and understudying the Designer and the Milliner, and Fiona Tong as a Footman and understudying the Queen, the Dresser and the Curator.
Design is by Jonathan Fensom, with lighting by Richard Howell, sound by Sarah Weltman and music by Ben Ringham. The tour is produced by Daniel Schumann and Lee Dean with the Arts Theatre Cambridge, which co-produces and hosts the opening run.
UK tour dates for By Royal Appointment
- 24 September - 3 October 2026: Arts Theatre, Cambridge
- 5-10 October: Theatre Royal, Nottingham
- 19-24 October: Chelmsford Theatre, Chelmsford
- 10-14 November: York Theatre Royal, York
- 12-16 January 2027: His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen
- 18-23 January: Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester
- 25-30 January: King's Theatre, Edinburgh
- 2-6 February: Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
Tickets are on sale for the tour, with the Chichester dates going on sale on Saturday 12 September 2026.
