Tameka Empson and Paterson Joseph will star in Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off at Theatre Royal Stratford East from Friday 5 February to 13 March 2027, the first show of the theatre’s 2027 season, announced on 3 November.
Lisa Spirling, the theatre’s artistic director and joint chief executive, directs. Joseph plays Lloyd, the director, and Empson plays Dotty. The production marks 45 years since the play was first staged, WhatsOnStage reported. Press night is 15 February.
“We begin with the gloriously silly chaos of ‘Noises Off’, with Paterson Joseph and Tameka Empson adding magic to the mayhem,” Spirling, the executive director Hanna Streeter and the associate artistic director Jade Lewis said in a joint statement.
Empson is known for EastEnders and Joseph for Peep Show.
The rest of the season
Lewis directs the first revival of Winsome Pinnock’s Talking in Tongues since its premiere at the Royal Court in 1991, from 1 April to 1 May. Tamara Lawrance plays Claudette and Kayla Meikle plays Leela, in a story of friends and lovers between London and Jamaica.
Uncle Vanya follows from 19 May to 19 June, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic directed by Rikki Henry and set in a run-down modern office, using David Lan’s English version of Chekhov.
Later in the year the theatre and Kali Theatre stage the world premiere of The Fingerprint Bureau by Sonali Bhattacharyya, directed by Milli Bhatia. It follows two Bengali mathematicians, Azizul Haque and Chandra Bose, whose fingerprint research in British-ruled India became tied to colonial policing. Dates have not been announced.
The year ends with the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, from 20 November to 31 December 2027, written and directed by Vikki Stone and Tonderai Munyevu, who made Mama Goose in 2025.
In January the theatre will also give schools across the UK a free filmed version of its production Here There Are Blueberries, with teaching resources, during Holocaust Memorial Day week.
The essentials
- Noises Off: 5 February to 13 March 2027; press night 15 February
- Talking in Tongues: 1 April to 1 May 2027
- Uncle Vanya: 19 May to 19 June 2027
- The Fingerprint Bureau: dates to be announced
- Jack and the Beanstalk: 20 November to 31 December 2027
- Where: Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, London E15 1BN, next to Stratford station