Casting announced for world premiere of BLOODSPORT: AFTER HELEN OF TROY at Stratford East
Stratford East is delighted to announce full casting for the world premiere of Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy by award-winning writer Ava Pickett (1536), directed by Stratford East Artistic Director Lisa Spirling and running at Stratford East from 3 September 2026 until 10 October 2026.
As previously announced Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, ITV & Focus Features; upcoming film The Queen of Fashion) will play Helen alongside Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey, BBC; upcoming new series of Line of Duty, BBC) as Cee. They will be joined by Olivier Award-winning actress Maimuna Memon (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Donmar Warehouse; Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Crucible Theatre/ National Theatre) as Dani, Gerard Monaco (Richard II, Bridge Theatre; Dear England, BBC) as Mario, Ethan Moorhouse (The Moment, Studio365; I Know I Know I Know, Southwark Playhouse) as Messenger, Emma Monnickendam (Sisters in Arms, BBC; Hope, Clean Break/Royal Court Theatre) as Hermione, Jay Taylor (Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies, Swan Theatre/ West End/ Broadway; Midsomer Murders, ITV) as Marcus, Ellie Turner (Summerfolk, National Theatre; 2:22 A Ghost Story, West End) as Woman and Joshua-Alexander Williams (Romeo & Juliet, The Jamie Lloyd Company; Animal Farm, Stratford East/Leeds Playhouse/Nottingham Playhouse) as Luke.
The full creative team will also include Costume Supervisor Sophie Fuller, Fight & Intimacy Coordinator Enric Ortuño, Voice and Dialect by Claudette Williams and Assistant Director Ariana Xeno alongside the previously announced Set and Costume Designer Polly Sullivan, Lighting Designer Zeynep Kepekli, Sound Designer and Composer Nicola T. Chang, Movement Director Kloé Dean, Casting Director Juliet Horsley CDG and Dramaturg Ed Madden.
GIVE IT BACK. GIVE IT BACK NOW. GIVE IT BACK OR I’LL TAKE IT BACK.
Years after she walked out on her family, Helen has returned home after a war fought in her name. Her husband celebrates, her childhood friend Cee does not. Over the course of this first fragile night of peace time, wounds reopen, loyalties fracture and the true cost of a woman's choice to leave her life is made clear.
A play about friendship, motherhood, and what happens when the woman whose face started a war, returns home to finish it.
Ava Pickett's debut play 1536 is currently playing to sold out audiences in the West End having originally premiered at the Almeida Theatre. It was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2026, won the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, received a special commendation for the 2023 George Devine Award, won the Stage Debut Award for Best Writer 2025, and Most Promising Playwright Award for both The Standard Theatre Awards 2025 and the Critic's Circle Theatre Awards 2026. Ava is currently writing an adaptation of 1536 for television which has been commissioned by the BBC and will be produced by Drama Republic. She is also co-writing with Baz Luhrmann a Joan of Arc feature film for Warner Brothers. Other screen credits include Brassic, The Buccaneers, The Great and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
Lisa Spirling is the Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Theatre Royal Stratford East and a Creative Associate at Eleanor Lloyd Productions. She was previously the Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Theatre503 from 2016 – 2025 where her productions included The Boys Are Kissing, Wolfie, Milk and Gall and In Event of Moone Disaster. Elsewhere her other credits include Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial (West End – Olivier nominated), How To Win Against History (Bristol Old Vic/ Edinburgh Fringe), How To Fight Loneliness (Park Theatre) and Describe The Night (Hampstead Theatre).
This production is generously supported by Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Eilene Davidson Productions and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust.
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