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All new rehearsal photos have been released for the upcoming UK and Ireland tour of The Silence of the Lambs, as the production prepares to make its world stage play premiere. Check out the photos below!
Mollie Gallagher (Coronation Street) will make her professional theatre debut as ‘Clarice Starling’, Oliver Farnworth (Emmerdale) will star as ‘Jack Crawford’ alongside Sam Jackson (Skins) as ‘Buffalo Bill’, when the electrifying new production opens at Leicester’s Curve theatre on Saturday 01 August 2026, ahead of a major UK and Ireland tour.
Also joining the ensemble are Minal Patel as ‘Frederick Chilton’; Jo Mousley as ‘Senator Ruth Martin’; Lottie Amor as ‘Catherine Martin’; Mark Peachey as ‘Pilcher’; Andrew Joshi as ‘Peterson’; Jonny Magnanti as ‘Wertimer’, with Mary Timbrell Hill completing the company, all taking on a variety of roles.
They join previously announced British actor, singer, presenter, writer and director, John Partridge. Best known for his long-running role as Christian Clarke in BBC 1’s Eastenders and extensive range of West End credits from CATS to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, John will don the iconic mask as the refined and sadistic Dr Hannibal Lecter.
When FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to interview the psychiatrist and infamous murderer Hannibal Lecter, it’s hoped his brilliant mind will help catch sadistic new serial killer, Buffalo Bill. Another girl is missing, and time is running out. But Dr Lecter has questions of his own, and now Clarice must decide: keep a safe distance, or let Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ into her head?
Two-time Pulitzer finalist Gina Gionfriddo (Law & Order (NBC), House of Cards (Netflix) and Becky Shaw (whose recent Broadway debut earned two Tony nominations and one win) brings Thomas Harris gripping literary masterpiece to the stage in a bold adaptation directed by the Curve’s Artistic Director, Nikolai Foster. Gionfriddo’s theatrical adaptation delves into the psychological tension of Thomas Harris’s landmark novel, drawing the audience deep into Clarice and Lecter’s intelligent, intricate, and bone-chilling game of cat-and-mouse, as the FBI scramble to catch Buffalo Bill, a serial killer still at large.
The tour’s award-winning creative team is completed by acclaimed theatre Designer, Michael Taylor (The Ladykillers (Olivier-nominated), Billy Elliot (Leicester Curve)); Sound Designer, Carolyn Downing (award-winning credits include her Olivier for Chimerica and Tony Award for Life of Pi); Projection Designer, George Reeve (2025 Tony Award recipient for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending, Disney’s Hercules and Oliver (West End and Chichester Festival Theatre); Tony nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning Composer, Grant Olding, whose theatre credits include numerous collaborations with Nicholas Hytner at both The Bridge and National Theatres, including One Man, Two Guvnors; Tony and Olivier-nominated Lighting Designer, Howard Hudson (Starlight Express, Troubadour Theatre, & Juliet, Broadway, West End, International and UK tours) and Casting by Harry Blumenau CDG CSA. Julia Thomas is Associate Director.
Photo Credit: Marc Brenner
