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NASSIM SOLEIMANPOUR AND OMAR ELERIAN LAUNCH NEW THEATRE COMPANY THERE & THEN
A new independent production company, There & Then, has been announced today by acclaimed Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (ECHO, NASSIM) and award-winning director Omar Elerian (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Rhinoceros).
Their inaugural production will be a West End run of Soleimanpour’s internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit at the Duchess Theatre from 8 June - 2 November 2026 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
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.
8 June - 2 November at 7.30 pm Performances take place weekly on a Monday
Tickets from £25
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