One of the most acclaimed new plays in years arrives in the West End. After seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway and a sell-out UK premiere at the Royal Court, John Proctor is the Villain transfers to Wyndham’s Theatre for a strictly limited twelve-week season, directed by the Tony Award-winning Danya Taymor.
Written by Kimberly Belflower, the play is set in a one-stoplight town in rural Georgia in 2018. A class of bright, funny, restless high-school students is studying Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the story of the Salem witch trials, when a scandal erupts closer to home. As the events of the play start to mirror their own lives, the students begin to see the set text, and the adults around them, very differently, and to ask who really gets cast as the hero, and who as the villain.
A Modern Classic in the Making
Funny, fierce and deeply moving, John Proctor is the Villain is a coming-of-age drama for the post-MeToo generation, alive with pop songs, friendship and the electric energy of teenagers working out who they want to be. It became one of the defining plays of its Broadway season, earning seven Tony nominations including Best Play, and its UK premiere at the Royal Court was met with rapturous reviews.
The West End production is led by a company of some of Britain’s most exciting rising talent, including Sadie Soverall, Amy Macken, Dónal Finn and Lauryn Ajufo, with a creative team drawn from the acclaimed original staging. It is a rare chance to catch a genuine modern classic in an intimate West End house.
Why It’s Worth the Watch
Here is why John Proctor is the Villain is one of the must-see plays of 2027:
- A Tony-nominated sensation. Seven Tony nominations including Best Play, and a sell-out Royal Court run, make this one of the most celebrated new plays of recent years.
- Urgent and hugely entertaining. It tackles big questions about power and storytelling with wit, warmth and the raw energy of its teenage characters - never a lecture, always a thrill.
- A world-class director. Danya Taymor, fresh from Tony-winning success, brings her electric staging to a strictly limited West End run.
- A short, sharp, unmissable season. It plays Wyndham’s for just twelve weeks, straight through with no interval, so tickets will go fast.
