Tickets for the Troubles-set play, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Paddy Considine, sold out within a day at the Royal Court. Now a West End run has been announced

A keenly awaited new play from Jez Butterworth, which became the fastest-selling production in the 60-year history of the Royal Court theatre, is to transfer to the West End.

Even before audiences have seen The Ferryman, to be directed by Sam Mendes, producers announced a 16-week run at London’s Gielgud theatre from 20 June, shortly after it completes its time at the Royal Court.

There is huge excitement around the play, which will feature Paddy Considine in a cast of 23. When tickets for the April and June Royal Court run went on sale they sold out within a day.



The West End producer Sonia Friedman said the speed of that ticket sale gave the production team an obvious message.

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It became clear to us even then that there was a far larger demand to see the play than the Court run could ever accommodate.” she said. “We have therefore worked at speed to find the production another home as quickly as possible, which is no mean feat, and we are very grateful to the company for helping us make this happen.

“It is thrilling to know that wider audiences will now have a chance to see this extraordinary new work from one of our most important writers. The scope, scale and ambition of Jez’s new play deserves this opportunity.”

Butterworth’s plays include Mojo and Jerusalem – the latter of which was of the most popular of recent years and won its lead actor, Mark Rylance, an Olivier in London and a Tony in New York.

When Jerusalem neared the end of its West End run in January 2012 there were people queuing for up to 24 hours in the bitter cold to get a ticket.

General tickets for the West End run of The Ferryman go on sale at 10am on Friday. Producers said more than 20,000 tickets will be on sale at less than £25, with tickets at all performances available from £12.

Friedman has previously admitted making a mistake when preview tickets for another big buzz play, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, were sold at full price. Consequently all preview tickets for The Ferryman will be sold at reduced prices.

The play is set in rural Northern Ireland in 1981, the height of the Troubles and the year of the hunger strike in which Bobby Sands and nine other republican prisoners starved themselves to death.

Jez Butterworth: playwright 'without equal' turns his gaze on the Troubles Read more

Further details are scarce, the official publicity says only: “Rural Derry, 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.”

Vicky Featherstone, the Royal Court’s artistic director, described the play as a “mighty family epic with generations of one family crammed into its dynamic world”.

The play represents a return for Mendes to his subsidised theatre roots after directing two most recent James Bond films, Skyfall and Spectre. Mendes began his theatre career at the Chichester Festival theatre before founding the Donmar Warehouse in London where he spent a decade in charge.

He enlisted Butterworth to help improve both the Bond scripts, a job uncredited in Skyfall.

Aside from Considine, who last week confirmed via Twitter that he would make his Royal Court debut in the play, The Ferryman will feature a cast also including Laura Donnelly and Genevieve O’Reilly. The full company will comprise 38 performers with 18 main adults, 7 covers, 12 children on rota and one baby. It begins previews at the Royal Court on 24 April.