I saw Brian Cox and his wife Nicole Ansari acting alongside one another in the premiere of Tom Stoppard’s 2006 play Rock ‘n’ Roll. It was wonderful to talk to them about working together onstage again in a very different capacity of a very different play.

Brian Cox makes one of his rare forays into directing to helm this European premiere of Sinners, written by Israeli writer Joshua Sobol (whose many other credits include the Evening Standard Award-winning Ghetto) and starring Nicole Ansari as a woman awaiting death by stoning for adultery in an unnamed Muslim fundamentalist country.

After this sold-out performance, I was joined by Sinners‘ writer, director and leading lady as well as Ansari’s co-star Adam Sina, who plays the lover plagued with the choice of saving his own life by casting the first stone.

What was the real-life incident that inspired the play? How do we ‘stone’ women in different ways in Western society? Why did Brian Cox want to swap acting for directing for this piece? Why is making her husband a feminist one of Nicole Ansari’s proudest achievements? What are the future plans for the piece?

Brian Cox also shared his views on directors and directing, how embracing his feminine side improves his art and, with a group from his alma mater LAMDA in the audience, his memories of drama school and why drama training is so valuable for anyone.

I returned for a second post-show discussion at Sinners tackle more of the political and cultural aspects of the play with a panel including the actors, Iranian-born musician and scientist Veria Amiri and guest panellist Majid Tafreshi, a historian and British-Iranian relations analyst.

Q&A video

Sinners – The English Professor runs at The Playground Theatre, Latimer Road, London W10 6RQ from 25 February to 14 March with performances Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm, Sundays at 5pm, Matinee 14 March at 2.30pm. Tickets are priced £21.50. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!!

Terri Paddock

Terri Paddock runs the Terri Paddock Group, which provides content and social media marketing services for theatre clients across channels including MyTheatreMates.com, StageFaves.com, Stage Talk and TerriPaddock.com. Previously,
Terri Paddock founded WhatsOnStage.com and the WhatsOnStage Awards, running the company and its events from 1996 to 2013. Terri is also the author of two novels, Come Clean and Beware the Dwarfs, and has previously written for the Evening Standard, Independent, The Times and other national publications. She is renowned for her 'legendary' post-show Q&As and also produces the annual Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and acts as a digital, content strategy and event consultant for theatre, producers and other clients. She tweets about theatre at @TerriPaddock.