Nick Mohammed takes the role of The Host in The Traitors - Acts of Betrayal at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from May 2027, after being sworn in by Claudia Winkleman.
Nick Mohammed will play The Host in The Traitors - Acts of Betrayal at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, taking on the job Claudia Winkleman does on television. Previews begin on 11 May 2027 and the world premiere opening night is 8 June 2027; tickets are on sale now from £25.
Winkleman has sworn him in, formally. In a video filmed at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands – the home of the BBC series – she makes Mohammed take The Traitors Host Oath before he inherits the role for the stage. He is well placed to know what he is agreeing to: he reached the final of the first series of The Celebrity Traitors.
Studio Lambert and Neal Street Productions announced the casting today, alongside the full creative team.
Nick Mohammed said: “At first, I didn’t want to believe that a series of fictional plays based on The Traitors could ever contain as many brilliant twists and turns as the real thing - or be quite as compelling. But John Finnemore has crafted an absolute masterpiece: a cycle of five plays that are each as funny as they are moving, and of course, deeply, deeply unpredictable! And under the direction of the brilliant Robert Hastie, I couldn’t be more delighted to be joining such an original and wildly ambitious show.
“To take on Claudia’s role, as it were, is not just a privilege but a real challenge as an actor - I simply don’t have enough hair! But I will do my utmost not to disappoint.
“Either way, this time round, I promise not to let down the whole nation right at the very end. Now let the game begin…”
Stephen Lambert, chief executive of Studio Lambert, said: “The actor who portrays The Host in these plays has to hold a live audience through an entire game each evening, five different ways. It needs charm, mischief, acting talent and complete control of the stage. Nick has all four, and the fact that he played the game and knows its intricacies, is a wonderful bonus.”
The structure is the thing that makes this more than a television transfer. John Finnemore, creator of Cabin Pressure, has written a cycle of five plays, each of which runs an entire game to its end in a single evening – traitors chosen, players banished and murdered, a winner crowned. From Monday to Friday each play begins identically and then takes a different path, so a character banished early in one version wins in another. On Saturdays the audience decides who wears the cloak, and that choice settles which of the five they see.
Robert Hastie directs, having directed the Olivier Award winners for Best New Musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge and Operation Mincemeat. The creative team announced today is designer Ben Stones, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Alexandra Faye Braithwaite, choreographer Kate Prince, music by Martin Lowe and casting director Stuart Burt CDG CSA.
The television format was created and developed by IDTV with the RTL Creative Unit, and rights were negotiated through All3Media International. Studio Lambert and Neal Street Productions are both part of Banijay Entertainment.
The Traitors - Acts of Betrayal runs at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, 166 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5PW. Performance days and times vary from 11 May to 7 June 2027; from 8 June the schedule settles to Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm with matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays at 2.30pm. Tickets start at £25.
