Cole Escola Will Make West End Debut in OH, MARY!; Booking Extended

The Olivier and Tony Award-winning comedy OH, MARY! will extend booking at Trafalgar Theatre until 2 January 2027. Cole Escola will make their West End debut reprising their Tony Award-winning role as Mary Todd Lincoln for a strictly limited 4-week season from 20 July until 15 August 2026.

OH, MARY! currently stars Catherine Tate as Mary Todd Lincoln, Kate O’Donnell as Mary’s Chaperone, Oliver Stockley as Mary’s Husband’s Assistant, with Dino Fetscher as Mary’s Teacher, and Scott Karim as Mary’s Husband.

Catherine Tate’s final performance as Mary Todd Lincoln will be Saturday 18 July. Casting for the role of Mary Todd Lincoln from Monday 17 August onwards is to be announced.

Read reviews of Cole’s performance in the Broadway production of Oh, Mary! and check out photos.

Cole Escola (they/them) is a comedian, actor and writer. For their work on Oh, Mary!, they received two Tony Award nominations, winning the Tony for Best Actor in a Play. They also received a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Special Citation, a Drama League Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Theatre World Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and an Obie Award for the show; the play was also named a 2025 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama. Notable TV includes Search Party, At Home With Amy Sedaris, Difficult People (on which they also wrote), Man Seeking Woman, Mozart in the Jungle and Ziwe (for which they were also a writer). Cole consulted on Hacks for HBO and also wrote for The Other Two for Comedy Central. They were the co-creator, writer and star of the lo-fi cult-hit TV show Jeffrey and Cole Casserole, and were named one of Vanity Fair’s 25 Best Performances of 2023 for their special Our Home Out West and Best Sketch Comic of 2020 by the New York Times for their special Help! I’m Stuck!, which they filmed alone in their apartment during quarantine. Both self-produced specials are available on YouTube.

About Oh, Mary!

OH, MARY! is a dark comedy about a miserable, suffocated Mary Todd Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Unrequited yearning, alcoholism, and suppressed desires abound in this 80-minute one-act play that finally examines the forgotten life and dreams of Mrs. Lincoln, through the lens of an idiot (playwright Cole Escola).

OH, MARY! received Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Play (Cole Escola) and Best Direction of a Play (Sam Pinkleton), Drama League Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Direction of a Play, as well as a special citation from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. It was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

OH, MARY! premiered off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in January 2024, before a Broadway transfer to the Lyceum Theatre in July 2024, where it broke box office records and continues to play to sold out audiences. It had its West End premiere at Trafalgar Theatre on 3 December 2025 and won Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at this year’s Olivier Awards. This Autumn, OH, MARY! will also launch a US National Tour.

In addition to Cole Escola (Writer) and Sam Pinkleton (Director), the full creative team includes dots (Scenic Designer), Holly Pierson (Costume Designer), Cha See (Lighting Designer), Daniel Kluger (Sound Design and Music), Drew Levy (Sound Designer), Leah J. Loukas (Wig Designer), David Dabbon (Arrangements) with Casting by Stuart Burt CDG. 

Associate creatives include Zoë Hurwitz (Scenic), Debo Andrews (Costume), Tom Turner (Lighting), Chris Reid (Sound), Kim Kasim (Wigs), and Caitlin Morgan (Music Direction).