Rehearsal photos released for The Lives of Others with Keira Knightley at the Adelphi

Keira Knightley, Stephen Dillane and Luke Thompson have been pictured in rehearsal for the world premiere of The Lives of Others on stage.

The rehearsal images were released ahead of the run at the Adelphi Theatre. The photographs of Knightley and Thompson are credited to Manuel Harlan. WhatsOnStage reported the release on 24 September.

Knightley, Dillane and Thompson lead the cast. Knightley, an Academy Award nominee, plays Christa-Maria Sieland. Dillane plays Gerd Wiesler.

Robert Icke has adapted and directed the stage version. It is based on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's film of the same name. Sonia Friedman is the producer.

The world premiere, meaning the first staging anywhere, brings a screen story into a West End house. The Adelphi is the London home for this production. It is billed as a West End play with a fixed closing date.

The story is set in 1984 East Germany. It centres on a writer and an actor who are placed under state surveillance. A Stasi man listens from the attic above their apartment.

Previews, meaning early performances before the official opening night, begin at the Adelphi on 14 October. The production opens on 29 October. It is scheduled to run until 9 January 2027.

The run is described as strictly limited. That means it is sold for a set period with no extension announced. The dates cover the autumn and the Christmas period into the new year.

Tickets are on sale now. LW Theatres lists the show as starting from October 2026. Official London Theatre lists tickets from £38.

For fans, this means a first look at how the surveillance story will work on stage. The rehearsal photos show the three leads at work before they meet a paying audience. The next milestone is the start of previews in October.