A play based on documents and testimony from the Gisele Pelicot rape case will receive its UK premiere at London County Hall on November 30.
The Pelicot Rape Trial was created by Swiss director and playwright Milo Rau. The production will draw on accounts from the trial, police files, social commentary and psychiatric reports concerning the 51 men who were prosecuted.
The one-off performance will feature 30 actors and public figures. It forms part of the Young Vic Theatre’s final shows of its 2026/7 season.
The case centred on Dominique Pelicot, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping his former wife and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious. The abuse lasted nearly a decade.
Gisèle Pelicot, who is 73, waived her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse. During the case, she said that shame should fall on her abusers rather than on her.
The three-and-a-half-month trial took place in Avignon, France, and ended in December 2024. Fifty men were found guilty of rape or other sexual offences.
Nadia Fall, the Young Vic Theatre’s artistic director and chief executive, said: “Milo Rau’s extraordinary testimonial piece The Pelicot Trial breaks out beyond our theatre walls to County Hall; a piece of confronting event-theatre which bears witness to the harrowing story of Gisèle Pelicot.”
The production is among a series of works announced for the Young Vic’s 2026/7 season.
Dissent, written and directed by Debbie Tucker Green, will star Lashana Lynch, known for appearing in No Time To Die. The play is described as confronting “ideas of control, complicity and power” and will run from March 5 to April 24.
What’s the F******Point? will be staged at The Maria Theatre from April 2 to 24. The satire is described as skewering “medical bureaucracy” and “identity politics”.
Eulogy will run from March 24 to April 24 in darkness inside a shipping container outside the Young Vic. The production promises to take audiences on a “surreal” journey.
A reimagining of Franz Kafka’s short story A Hunger Artist will be performed at The Maria Theatre from June 9 to 26. It will star former Royal Ballet principal Edward Watson and performance artist Meow Meow.
Tickets for the shows will go on general sale on October 7. The Pelicot Rape Trial will be presented as a single performance at London County Hall on November 30.
