Nottingham Playhouse has confirmed the full cast for the first production of Beth Steel's Till the Stars Come Down outside London, running from 5 to 26 September 2026.

The play — a family drama set during a wedding in a former Nottinghamshire mining town — premiered at the National Theatre's Dorfman Theatre in January 2024, ran there until March, and transferred to the West End in 2025. It picked up two Olivier Award nominations along the way.

Steel, originally from the East Midlands, is now seeing her play staged in the county where it is set. Nottingham Playhouse artistic director Adam Penford noted that the play has also been produced internationally, making this the first time audiences outside the capital can see it on a British stage (WhatsOnStage; The Stage).

AK Golding plays Sylvia, the hopeful bride at the centre of the story. Ivan Ivashkin plays Marek, her Polish groom. Howard Ward takes the role of Tony, the family patriarch, with Emma Pallant as Hazel, Leah Brotherhead as Maggie, and Graeme Hawley as John. Joe Alessi plays Uncle Pete, and Sadie Shimmin plays the outspoken aunt. Ellie Daley, Anya Marshall and Amelia Yates share the roles of the children, Leanne and Sarah.

Caroline Steinbeis directs. The creative team includes designer Oli Townsend, lighting designer Johanna Town, sound designer and composer Oliver Vibrans, movement director Ewa Emini, fight director and intimacy coordinator RC-Annie, voice and dialect coach Kate Godfrey, and casting director Helena Palmer (WhatsOnStage).

For a play rooted in a specific East Midlands community, the Nottingham staging carries a particular weight. The story's mining-town setting, family tensions and wedding-day chaos will play to a home-county audience for the first time.

Nottingham Playhouse is also offering a Touch Tour — a pre-show accessibility event where blind and partially sighted theatregoers can explore the set, props and costumes before the performance — as part of its access provision for the run (Nottingham Playhouse).