Tracy Letts’ acclaimed play August: Osage County is returning to London’s West End with a star-studded cast including Lesley Manville and Anna Maxwell Martin. The production marks the first major revival of the Pulitzer and Tony-winning drama in almost two decades.

August: Osage County, often regarded as one of the best plays of the century, will open at the Noël Coward Theatre in London on 18 January 2027 for a 12-week run. The play centres on the Weston family, who gather at their Oklahoma home following a family crisis, revealing long-standing tensions and secrets.

Lesley Manville returns to the London stage to play matriarch Violet Weston, fresh off her recent Tony Award win for Best Actress in Oedipus. Anna Maxwell Martin, a two-time BAFTA winner for Bleak House and Poppy Shakespeare, will portray Barbara Fordham.

The revival is directed by Jeremy Herrin, whose previous credits include Every Brilliant Thing, People, Places and Things, and Wolf Hall. Herrin praised August: Osage County as “one of the great plays of our time” and highlighted writer Tracy Letts as a worthy heir to American playwrights Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams.

The play originally premiered in Chicago in 2007 and had its UK premiere hosted by the National Theatre in November 2008. This West End production marks the first major revival of the darkly comedic and gripping family drama in London in nearly 20 years.

Manville expressed her enthusiasm for taking on the role, describing the play as “an epic piece of American literature” and a “complex, funny, tragic, ultimate family saga.” Herrin also expressed excitement about reuniting with Manville and working alongside Maxwell Martin.

Tickets for August: Osage County went on sale at midday today, with further casting yet to be announced. The Noël Coward Theatre will provide a fitting setting for what is expected to be a searing and entertaining production of Letts’ landmark play.