Are you ready to be scared out of your wits again? Following its successful West End run in 2017-8, the acclaimed adaptation of classic horror film The Exorcist returns to the stage next week at the Theatre Royal Windsor with a stellar cast at the start of a brand-new tour. For the truly brave, the performance on Friday the 13th of September will be followed by a special ghost tour of the theatre. Time to get booking!
The Exorcist – adapted for the stage by John Pielmeier, directed by Sean Mathias (No Man’s Land, Waiting for Godot) and presented by Bill Kenwright Productions – runs at the Theatre Royal Windsor from 4 to 14 September 2019, before continuing on tour until 23 November.
The Theatre Royal Windsor, immediately outside the Castle gates, is less than an hour by train from London
The new cast of The Exorcist is led by national treasure and BAFTA Award winner Paul Nicholas, most recognised for playing the role of Vince Pinner in the celebrated British sitcom Just Good Friends, who plays Father Merin.
Alongside Paul is TV star Sophie Ward, best known for her roles in Holby City and Heartbeat, playing Chris MacNeil, and household name Ben Caplan, best known for his time as Sgt Peter Noakes in Call the Midwife, who plays Father Damien. The production also features the voice of Ian McKellen as the Demon.
Widely considered the scariest movie of all time, the film adaptation of William Peter Blatty‘s best-selling novel The Exorcist sparked unprecedented worldwide controversy when it was released in cinemas in 1973. William Friedkin’s screen masterpiece saw audiences petrified to the point of passing out. It went on to win two Academy Awards and became one of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time. Now, 45 years after its release, fans of the film and theatre alike get to experience a visually astounding, intelligent and thrilling theatrical experience.
Inspired by true events, The Exorcist centres on the strange symptoms of young Regan. When the medical profession fails to provide answers, Regan’s desperate mother Chris (Sophie Ward) turns to a local priest for help. But before Father Damien (Ben Caplan) can tackle what’s before him, he must overcome his own shaken beliefs, as this fight is for more than just one girl’s soul…
The full cast of The Exorcist
Paul Nicholas, Sophie Ward and Ben Caplan are joined in the new touring cast of The Exorcist by Tristram Wymark (Henry Labouchere in Victoria), Stephen Billington (D.I. Knight in Armchair Detectives, recently seen onstage in The Rubinstein Kiss at Southwark Playhouse), Patrick Toomey (Christopher Sutherland in Holby City), Joseph Wilkins (Young Marx at the Bridge Theatre), Susannah Edgley (who starred in The Exorcist in the West End), Jonathan Blakeley (The Mousetrap), and, making her professional debut as Regan, Eliza Capel.
The multi-award-winning creative team of The Exorcist includes set designer Anna Fleischle (Death of a Salesman and Home, I’m Darling), lighting designer Philip Gladwell (A Very Very Very Dark Matter) and composer and sound designer Adam Cork (London Road). There are also illusions by Gold Star Member of the Inner Magic Circle Ben Hart, best known for his mind-blowing illusions on Britain’s Got Talent and projections by long-time collaborators Jon Driscoll and Gemma Carrington (Brief Encounter, Birdsong, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland).
Following its opening season at Windsor, The Exorcist will tour until 23 November 2019, visiting Glasgow, Wimbledon, Stoke, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.
Are you brave enough to see the show… & take a ghost tour at Theatre Royal Windsor?
