Kate Winslet, Brian Cox, Ambika Mod and Baroness Helena Kennedy to Join THE PELICOT TRIAL Reading

The Young Vic has announced the full company of readers for the UK premiere of Milo Rau and Servane Dècle’s The Pelicot Trial, a piece of documentary theatre presented across four and a half hours at London County Hall (Home to Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution) on 30 November 2026.

The special one-off event will be live-streamed world-wide for the duration of the performance to ensure as many people as possible can access this tribute to an ordinary woman who sparked a global reckoning, opening the way for change. Tickets for the production have now sold out, however, the live-stream will be free to access via the Young Vic YouTube channel on 30 November between 6-10.30pm.

Brian Cox, Lindsay Duncan, Misan Harriman, Suzy Eddie Izzard, Lennie James, Baroness Helena Kennedy, George MacKay, Tobias Menzies, Ambika Mod, John Simm, Indira Varma, Ellie Wilson, Kate Winslet and Harriet Wistrich complete the company of 30 artists and public figures who will take part in this one-off special event. The performance also features Countertenor Hugh Cutting. They join the previously announced readers Adjoa Andoh, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Lorraine Ashbourne, Leo Bill, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Alfred Enoch, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Rosie Jones, Kadiff Kirwan, Rosie O’Donnell, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jordan Stephens, Juliet Stevenson, Samuel West and Olivia Williams.

As a sociological study it shows that in a typical Western European city – the small town of Mazan in the south of France – perfectly ordinary men from all social classes and age groups are capable of perhaps the most extreme crime: the repeated rape of an unconscious woman.  “Shame has to change sides.” Through these words and her decision to make her trial public, Gisèle Pelicot has become a symbol of resilience and the fight against sexual violence.

Comprised of testimonies and written accounts from the trail, police files, social commentary and psychiatric reports of the 51 men who were prosecuted as part of Gisèle Pelicot’s case this special performance forms an urgent statement on the prevalence of sexual violence and its legal treatment. The play, which was developed in collaboration with journalists, anthropologists, and local feminist organisations in France, received its world premiere at the Vienna Festival and has toured internationally to cities including Avignon, New York, Lisbon, Milan, and Bergen performed by a different company in each city for one night only.

The Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna production of The Pelicot Trial is presented by the Young Vic, Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions. It is supported by the Olwyn Foundation for Women and Girls and Rosalind Riley. Support for audience members will be provided on the night by Rape Crisis & Centre for Women’s Justice. The charity partners are Rape Crisis & Centre for Women’s Justice.

The world premiere took place on June 18th, 2025 within the Vienna Festival | Free Republic of Vienna.