David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker to take turns to star in play

Acclaimed actors including David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker and Riz Ahmed will each take it in turns to star in the first play to be put on by a new independent theatre company.

White Rabbit Red Rabbit sees a different performer take to the stage each night to be presented with a sealed envelope.

Inside is a script they have never seen before, which they will perform only once – with no rehearsal and no director.

The new theatre company, There & Then, was announced on Friday by award-winning director Omar Elerian and Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour – following a decade long-collaboration between the two artists.

Its inaugural play, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, will be performed weekly on Monday evenings at London’s West End Duchess Theatre from June 8 to November 2.

The initial roster of artists includes David Harewood performing on the play’s first night on June 8, followed by Tennant on June 15.

Asim Chaudhry will take on the role on June 29, ahead of Luke Thompson on July 6, Whittaker on July 13, and Kathryn Hunter on July 20.

Ahmed will perform on September 28.

Tickets are on sale now, with further casting to be announced in the coming weeks.

First performed in 2011, White Rabbit Red Rabbit was written by Soleimanpour when he was forbidden to leave Iran.

Described as a “singular, unrepeatable experience shaped entirely by how that performer embraces the unknown”, it has been translated into more than 25 different languages.

Soleimanpor said: “We are all made of the stories we dare to tell, and the silences we finally give a voice.

“What began as a leap into the unknown with White Rabbit Red Rabbit has, through years of collaboration with Omar Elerian, become a shared theatrical language and the foundation of this new company.”

Elerian said: “I am extremely excited to embark on this new creative chapter in collaboration with my partner-in-crime, Nassim Soleimanpour.

“Together, we look forward to introducing something fresh and unconventional to the West End, confident that London audiences will embrace the exhilarating high-wire nature of our work—anchored in presence, immediacy, and a spirit of the unknown.

“In these fragile and uncertain times, we hope to reaffirm that risk, imagination, and the enduring power of storytelling remain among our most vital and transformative forces.”

White Rabbit Red Rabbit is a There & Then production in association with theatre producer Nica Burns.

Burns said: “I am delighted to welcome two exceptional artists producing together for the first time with their new company – playwright Nassim Soleimanpour and director Omar Elerian – to our first Monday evening residency at the intimate Duchess theatre.

“Every performance of White Rabbit Red Rabbit, a sold-out hit @sohoplace in 2024, is as unique as each of our outstanding company of performers, who appear only once. Definitely worth seeing twice.”