Theatre Royal Bath – Ustinov Studio
Blackbird
18 Nov 2025

John Simm will star in a brand-new production of David Harrower’s infamous and provocative play Blackbird, at Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio from 4 February – 6 March 2027.

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Fifteen years ago, Una and Ray had a relationship.

He was 41 years old. She was 12.

They haven’t set eyes on each other since.

Now, she’s found him again.

Ray (John Simm) has served a jail sentence and lives under a new identity. When Una turns up unexpectedly at Ray’s bleak factory canteen, the memories of their relationship pour forth, threatening to destroy their lives all over again, and wrongfooting the audience at every turn…

John Simm is known to millions for his starring roles in much-loved television dramas including DI Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, The Master in Doctor Who and the eponymous DS Roy Grace. On stage he has starred in Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter at the Pinter in the West End, played the title role in Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and Ebenezer Scrooge in Jack Thorne’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic.

Blackbird premiered at King’s Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, in August 2005, and transferred to the Albery Theatre in London’s West End in 2006, where it won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play.

Director Matthew Dunster returns to the Ustinov Studio fresh from his triumphant production of Hedda, starring Lily Allen, and Conor McPherson’s The Hunger Games: On Stage.

“Mixes guilt, memory and desire into the most potent of theatrical cocktails” Daily Telegraph

“A riveting study in sexual obsession that leaves one both shaken and stirred” Guardian

“One of the most theatrically bold conclusions in modern drama” Sunday Herald

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