Michelle Dockery to Lead World Premiere of Ava Pickett's 'Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy' at Stratford East
Michelle Dockery will return to the London stage this September, leading the world premiere of Ava Pickett's Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Dockery plays Helen, a woman who returns home years after leaving her family for a war fought in her name. Over a single night she reunites with her husband and her childhood friend Cee, played by Laura Aikman. The play is a modern-day retelling of the Helen of Troy myth, set in Essex. WhatsOnStage
The production runs from 3 September to 10 October 2026, with a press night on 10 September. Lisa Spirling, who took over as artistic director of Stratford East, will direct — her first production in the role since her appointment.
Dockery is best known to television audiences for Downton Abbey and Anatomy of a Scandal. Aikman's screen credits include The Larkins and Bloods.
The cast extends to nine. Maimuna Memon plays Dani, Gerard Monaco plays Mario, Ethan Moorhouse plays Messenger, Emma Monnickendam plays Hermione, Jay Taylor plays Marcus, Ellie Turner plays Woman and Joshua-Alexander Williams plays Luke.
Pickett arrives at Stratford East with an already decorated short career. Her debut play 1536 premiered at the Almeida Theatre, won the Best Writer award at The Stage Debut Awards, and went on to a sold-out run at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End — a transfer, meaning the production moved from its original subsidised venue into a commercial house. 1536 also won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2024, an international award recognising women playwrights writing in English, and received a special commendation at the George Devine Award.
The creative team behind Bloodsport includes set and costume designer Polly Sullivan, lighting designer Zeynep Kepekli, and sound designer and composer Nicola T Chang. Kloé Dean is movement director, Enric Ortuño is fight and intimacy coordinator, and Claudette Williams provides voice and dialect work. Casting is by Juliet Horsley, with Ed Madden as dramaturg and Ariana Xeno as assistant director.
The production is supported by Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Eilene Davidson Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor-advised fund held at The Prism Charitable Trust — a mix of commercial producers and charitable funders backing a new play at a subsidised venue.
A trailer for the production, created by 1983 Creative, has been released ahead of the first preview.
What makes the production one to watch is the combination: a playwright with an award-winning debut behind her, a cast led by a recognisable screen name, and a new artistic director putting her stamp on a venue with a long tradition of bold new work. Stratford East, at Gerry Raffles Square in London E15, has a history of premiering plays that speak to the city beyond the West End. Whether Bloodsport follows 1536 into a commercial transfer will depend on the numbers — the audiences, the reviews, the weekly running costs — in the way it always does.
For now, the dates are set and the cast is assembled. The first preview is on 3 September.
