Science fiction classic Minority Report is getting a stage adaptation that will make its world premiere at the U.K.'s Nottingham Playhouse in 2024, with performances running February 16–March 9. Runs at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and London's Lyric Hammersmith will follow, playing March 22–April 6 and April 19–May 18, respectively.
David Haig has adapted Philip J. Dick's 1956 novella, and Max Webster will direct.
The work follows a pioneering neuroscientist who develops a program that can predict crimes before they're committed—only for the neuroscientist to find themselves accused of pre-murder. Haig's adaptation shifts the action from the U.S. to London, and will reimagine the central character John Allison Anderton into a female neuroscientist, Dame Julia Anderton. Casting is to be announced.
The novella was famously adapted for the screen in a 2002 film starring Tom Cruise.
"We commissioned this project several years ago, but with its prescient central theme of personal technological surveillance, it has only become more alarmingly relevant to the world in which we live, despite the original story having been written in 1956," says producer Simon Friend. "I’m also excited to reunite with director Max Webster, after the continued success of our production of Life of Pi, to create another entertaining, ambitious, and thought-provoking piece of theatre, and to partner with some of the country’s best producing theatres in Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and Lyric Hammersmith."
"I’m really pleased to be directing Minority Report—a story so many people know and love—but which, in David Haig’s thrilling retelling, suddenly becomes a chillingly relevant thriller about law, justice and the power of technology to predict the future," adds Webster."
The production will feature production design by Jon Bausor, video design by Tal Rosner, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, music and sound design by Nicola T. Chang, and movement direction by Lucy Hind. Lotte Hines is casting, and Simon Friend Entertainment is producing.
Tickets will be available at NottinghamPlayhouse.co.uk, Birmingham-Rep.co.uk, and Lyric.co.uk.
