National Theatre Completes Cast for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

The National Theatre has completed the company for Jim Cartwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, confirming a winter run in the Dorfman Theatre before a short nationwide tour early in 2027. Francesca Mills plays Little Voice, Jill Halfpenny plays Mari Hoff and Paul Chuckle plays Mr Boo, with Robert Hastie, the National's deputy artistic director, directing.

London dates are Wednesday 2 December 2026 to Saturday 23 January 2027 at the Dorfman on the South Bank. The production then travels to seven English venues from February into March 2027, with support from Arts Council England. Official tickets for the London engagement are on sale through the National Theatre's own site.

Full company for Dorfman and the road

Alongside Mills, Halfpenny and Chuckle, the National has named Beverly Rudd as Sadie, Daniel Ryan as Ray Say, Adonis Siddique as Billy and Noel White as Telephone Man, with White also covering Ray Say and Mr Boo. Completing the company are Alice Croft (ensemble and understudy Little Voice), Kofi Dennis (ensemble and understudy Billy and Telephone Man) and Nicky Swift (ensemble and understudy Mari Hoff and Sadie).

That line-up was published on the National Theatre production page and reported in the cast-complete coverage on WhatsOnStage on 23 September 2026. Mills arrives with screen credits including Silent Witness and an Ian Charleson Award behind her. Halfpenny, an Olivier winner, brings recent television work including The Long Shadow. Chuckle, familiar to British audiences from decades of entertainment and more recently The Madame Blanc Mysteries, takes Mr Boo, the club host who becomes a key figure in Little Voice's uneasy journey from bedroom to spotlight.

Rudd's stage and screen credits include Trollied; Ryan is known for The Bay; Siddique's recent theatre includes Withnail and I at Birmingham Rep; White returns to the National after Hamlet. The ensemble covers underline how tightly the Dorfman company is built for both the London run and the subsequent tour dates.

What Cartwright's modern classic is about

Cartwright's play follows Little Voice, who spends her time alone in her bedroom singing along to her late father's record collection: Judy Garland, Billie Holiday and other great divas among them. When her mother Mari's latest partner, local wheeler-dealer Ray, hears her sing, he sees a chance to make money from a talent she never asked to commercialise. The National's own billing frames the piece as a joyful, tender and bittersweet celebration of music, ambition and the courage it takes to be heard, with the line: "The hardest voice to find is your own."

That mix of northern comedy, pathos and showbiz grit has kept the play in the repertoire since its early 1990s premiere. Hastie's staging at the Dorfman places it in the National's more intimate auditorium rather than the Olivier or Lyttelton, a choice that suits a story that lives in a cramped house, a club microphone and a voice that would rather stay hidden. Music from Garland, Shirley Bassey and others is part of the fabric of the evening, not a bolted-on concert medley.

Creative team behind Hastie's revival

Hastie directs. Janet Bird designs set and costumes. Paul Pyant designs lighting. Mike Walker designs sound. David Shrubsole is composer and music director. Ira Mandela Siobhan is movement director. Bethan Clark is fight and intimacy director. Casting is by Alastair Coomer CDG and Harry McDonald. Hazel Holder coaches dialect and Zoe Littleton coaches voice.

Those credits map onto a production that has to move from a South Bank chamber theatre onto mid-scale touring stages without losing the domestic pressure of Mari's house or the glitter of Mr Boo's club. Movement, fight and intimacy work will matter in a story where family coercion, romantic hope and stage fright share the same small rooms. Shrubsole's music direction sits at the centre of how Mills's Little Voice will be heard, and how the audience hears the difference between imitation and a life of her own.

London dates and UK tour stops

Confirmed London dates: 2 December 2026 to 23 January 2027 in the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre, Upper Ground, South Bank, London SE1 9PX. National Theatre published bands for Monday to Thursday evenings and matinees run £20, £47, £59 and £78; Friday and Saturday evenings and matinees £25, £47, £59 and £78; previews from 2 to 7 December are listed at £20, £30, £41 and £51. A £4 per-order booking fee applies to phone and online bookings, with exemptions for National Theatre members and other published categories. Prices may change according to demand.

Standard performance times are Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm. Early evening 6.30pm starts are listed for Thursday 7 January, Tuesday 12 January, Thursday 14 January and Tuesday 19 January 2027. The press performance is trailed for 10 December 2026. Always check the National Theatre diary for the exact pattern on your chosen night.

Following the Dorfman run, the tour opens at Newcastle Theatre Royal from 3 to 6 February 2027, then Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield (9–13 February), Belgrade Theatre, Coventry (16–20 February), the Lowry in Salford (23–27 February), Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (2–6 March), Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (9–13 March) and Theatre Royal Plymouth (16–20 March). Regional press performances are expected on each venue's first night. Booking and assisted-performance details for the tour sit with the individual houses.

Assisted performances in London

For the Dorfman engagement the National has published captioned performances on Friday 18 December 2026 and Friday 15 January 2027 at 7.30pm; a BSL-interpreted performance on Wednesday 6 January 2027 at 7.30pm; audio-described performances on Saturday 16 January at 2pm and Friday 22 January at 7.30pm (each with a touch tour beforehand); and a relaxed performance on Thursday 21 January 2027 at 7.30pm. Smart caption glasses are not available for this title. Access booking is via the National's Access line on 020 7452 3961.

Where to find tickets

London tickets and the fullest schedule are on the National Theatre event page at nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/the-rise-and-fall-of-little-voice. Phone booking is listed as 020 3989 5455. Group bookings of ten or more go through 020 7452 3010. For venue context on British Theatre, see the Dorfman Theatre and National Theatre pages. Tour tickets should be booked through each stop's own box office once your city dates are live.

For readers who already know Cartwright's play from earlier revivals or the film, this is a fresh National Theatre company with a named tour already locked, not a vague "and then touring" footnote. Mills, Halfpenny and Chuckle give the bill a clear public face; the supporting company and covers make the road dates look properly staffed rather than bolted on. If you are choosing between a South Bank night in December or January and a regional week in February or March, both ends of the run are now cast-complete in public.

Bottom line

Jim Cartwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice returns to the National Theatre's Dorfman from 2 December 2026 to 23 January 2027, then tours England from 3 February to 20 March 2027. Francesca Mills is Little Voice, Jill Halfpenny is Mari and Paul Chuckle is Mr Boo, with Rudd, Ryan, Siddique, White, Croft, Dennis and Swift completing the company under Robert Hastie. Book London dates through the National Theatre; book tour stops through the listed regional venues.

Venue pages: Dorfman Theatre · National Theatre · official London tickets: National Theatre event page.