ELIZABETH DULAU AND OWEN TEALE STAR IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF BIRD GROVE BY ALEXI KAYE CAMPBELL
Posted on 7 January 2026.
Posted in: Main Stage
Elizabeth Dulau stars alongside Owen Teale in the world premiere of Bird Grove – Olivier Award-winning playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play about the early life of one of England’s greatest writers, George Eliot. Directed by Anna Ledwich the production plays Hampstead Theatre from 13 February to 21 March 2026 with a press night on Monday 23 February.
Elizabeth Dulau plays Mary Ann Evans (later known as George Eliot). Elizabeth is best known for her role in the five-time Emmy award-winning Star Wars spin-off series, Andor, and most recently she starred in House of Guinness.
Tony Award winner and Game of Thrones star Owen Teale plays Robert Evans. His extensive theatre credits include A Doll’s House (West End and Broadway), Ivanov (National Theatre) and No Man’s Land (Wyndham’s Theatre).
Also joining the cast are Jonnie Broadbent (The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre), Jolyon Coy (I, Joan, Shakespeare’s Globe), Tom Espiner (Cow/Deer, Royal Court), Rebecca Scroggs (Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer, Hampstead Theatre), James Staddon (Coram Boy, Chichester Festival Theatre) and Sarah Woodward (The Haystack, Hampstead Theatre).
In Bird Grove, Alexi Kaye Campbell offers a fresh perspective on one of England’s greatest writers. A poignant exploration of family ties and self-determination the play questions how we can live alongside those we love when our beliefs pull us in different directions.
The year is 1841 and Mary Ann Evans is of marriageable age - just. Her father, Robert, has recently moved with her to Bird Grove House, with the sole purpose of finding her a suitable husband through the local church. But Mary Ann’s remarkable intellect and growing self-confidence are forming progressive new ideas in her mind; ideas that challenge her father’s most strongly held beliefs.
Fuelled by every new book she reads and a burgeoning friendship with local radicals, Mary Ann finds it increasingly difficult to accept the rules of the world around her - bringing her into direct and bitter conflict with the father she adores. But perhaps that is the only way forward: to break every societal convention expected of her, find her voice, and become the writer she has always dreamt of being. After all, who can suppress the astounding gifts of future literary titan, George Eliot?
Alexi Kaye Campbell’s previous work includes the Olivier Award-winning The Pride (Royal Court/West End) and Apologia (Bush/West End). Anna Ledwich returns to Hampstead, where her previous credits include The Billionaire Inside Your Head, Labyrinth and the Olivier nominated productions of Dry Powder and Four Minutes Twelve Seconds.
The creative team also includes designer Sarah Beaton, lighting designer Matt Haskins and sound designer and composer Harry Blake. The casting director is Juliet Horsley.
Bird Grove plays on the Main Stage at Hampstead Theatre from 13 February to 21 March 2026.
