Mumbai: Quentin Tarantino’s first play, The Popinjay Cavalier, is set to open in London’s West End next year.
Set in Europe in the 1830s, it is a comedy involving deception and disguises, inspired by old Hollywood adventure films. The play stars Sacha Baron Cohen and is written and directed by Tarantino.
Cohen, who is known for playing Borat and Ali G, will also be making his West End debut.
“When the best director in the world calls, you don’t ask questions; I am beyond delighted that we will be losing our West End virginity together,” the actor said about starring in the play.
Meanwhile, Tarantino simply said: “I’m keen with anticipation to give the West End a great night out.”
The two had nearly worked together before. Cohen was supposed to appear in Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), playing a gambler named Scotty. However, it did not happen. Cohen dropped out because he was finishing The Dictator and had to begin work on Les Misérables. Tarantino eventually cut the character from the film.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker had first spoken about his plans for theatre last year. On The Church of Tarantino podcast, he said that plays were “absolutely my next project”. He also planned to move to England with his family while working on it, expecting the production to take from 18 months to two years.
Tarantino had also considered what would happen if the play failed.
“If it’s a flop, I’ll be done very quickly,” he said.
However, Tarantino is no stranger to the strange, having acted before. In 1998, he appeared on Broadway in Wait Until Dark. But this is the first time he has written and directed a play.
Tarantino hasn’t directed a film since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), which was his ninth film. He has long maintained that he will retire from directing after his tenth film. He has written the upcoming comedy-drama The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but David Fincher is directing it.
The Popinjay Cavalier will run at London’s Phoenix Theatre. Previews begin on 23 February 2027, with the opening scheduled for 18 March. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sonia Friedman Productions are producing it. Other than Cohen, no other cast announcements have been made so far.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)