New production company launches with WHITE RABBIT RED RABBIT's return to the West End

A new independent production company, There & Then, has been announced today by acclaimed Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour and award-winning director Omar Elerian, launching with their inaugural production of the internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit at London’s Duchess Theatre from 8 June - 2 November in its 15th Anniversary year.

Performances will take place weekly on Monday evenings, with tickets on sale now.

In the boundary-pushing production, a different performer takes to the stage each night and is presented with a sealed envelope. Inside is a script they have never seen before, which they will perform only once, with no rehearsal and no director. What follows is a singular, unrepeatable experience shaped entirely by how that performer embraces the unknown.

The initial roster of artists includes David Harewood (Othello) performing on 8 June; David Tennant (Rivals) performing on 15 June; Jo Joyner (Little Disasters) performing on 22 June; Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing) performing on 29 June; Luke Thompson (Bridgerton) performing on 6 July; Jodie Whittaker (Toxic Town) performing on 13 July; Kathryn Hunter (Poor Things) performing on 20 July; Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) performing on 27 July; Archie Madekwe (Steal) performing on 21 September; and Riz Ahmed (Bait) performing on 28 September. Further casting to be announced in the coming weeks.

First performed in 2011, White Rabbit Red Rabbit was written while Soleimanpour was forbidden to leave Iran. Playful, poignant and unsettling the play explores obedience, choice and freedom of expression - and the fragile contract between performer and audience. Distilling the experience of an entire generation into something bold, humane and entirely original, fifteen years on the play's questions feel as urgent as ever. To date, White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been performed over 4,000 times and translated into over 25 different languages.

Born out of a decade-long collaboration between Soleimanpour and Elerian that builds on the international success of their signature cold-reads, There & Then is a new creative partnership that presents unique theatrical experiences in the UK and internationally, works firmly rooted in the present and responding to the immediacy of our rapidly changing global landscape.

White Rabbit Red Rabbit is their first solo-production with casting by Matilda James CDG. They are also presenting the second international tour of their most recent cold-read work, ECHO, working with producer Immanuel Bartz.

Nassim Soleimanpour said: “We are all made of the stories we dare to tell, and the silences we finally give a voice. What began as a leap into the unknown with White Rabbit Red Rabbit has, through years of collaboration with Omar Elerian, become a shared theatrical language and the foundation of this new company, and we’re excited that our first production will be in association with Nica Burns and Nimax as we share this next chapter with audiences.”

Omar Elerian said: “I am extremely excited to embark on this new creative chapter in collaboration with my partner-in-crime, Nassim Soleimanpour. Together, we look forward to introducing something fresh and unconventional to the West End, confident that London audiences will embrace the exhilarating high-wire nature of our work—anchored in presence, immediacy, and a spirit of the unknown. In these fragile and uncertain times, we hope to reaffirm that risk, imagination, and the enduring power of storytelling remain among our most vital and transformative forces.”

For more info on White Rabbit Red Rabbit, please click here.