Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink will make her West End debut in Romeo and Juliet | stage

Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink is set to make her West End debut next year in Romeo and Juliet, opposite British film star Noah Jupe, in a production directed by Olivier Award-winner Robert Icke.

Cink, who plays Max in the hit Netflix sci-fi series, began her career on stage. She was cast in the lead role in the musical Annie when she was 10 years old, and remained in it for 18 months in New York. “I was a Broadway kid, so I always dreamed of doing a show in the West End,” she said. “To do this in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays under Rob’s direction with Noah will be an exciting challenge. London theater has such amazing energy, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.” Sink becomes the latest in a string of American stars to make their West End debut in recent years, including Sigourney Weaver (The Tempest), Brie Larson (Elektra) and Susan Sarandon (Mary Page Marlowe).

Jupe, whose early films include the horror film A Quiet Place, plays Hamlet in Chloé Zhao’s version of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet starring Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal. He will appear for the first time on stage as Romeo. “Theater is something I’ve always been fascinated by. It seems to be a challenging and rewarding experience for an actor,” he said. “So I was very excited to hear about this project. Bringing Romeo, Rob and Sadie together is an opportunity you simply can’t refuse.”

Romeo and Juliet is “an explosive play, full of heat and life, that confronts us with the fragility of our lives and the importance of every last second,” said Icke, whose version of Oedipus was a hot ticket in the West End and is now on Broadway. He added: “This is one of the plays I have returned to again and again, and the opportunity to tackle it in London with such wonderful young actors is very exciting.” Ike directed Romeo and Juliet in 2012 for the Headlong Theater Company, and was highly acclaimed for his 2017 Almeida stage production of Hamlet, starring Andrew Scott.

Romeo and Juliet will have a set and costumes designed by Hildegard Bechtler, one of Ike’s frequent collaborators, and will be performed at the Harold Pinter Theater from March 16 to June 6. By then, Stranger Things fans will know the fate of Sink’s character, Max, who remained in a coma at the end of Season 4. The new season of Stranger Things debuts later this month, followed by three episodes on Boxing Day and the finale on New Year’s Day.

While that series was in post-production, Sink starred in John Proctor Is the Villain, a high school play about Arthur Miller’s The Crucible — a performance that earned her a Tony Award nomination. John Proctor Is the Villain moves from Broadway to the Royal Court in London, the cast has yet to be announced, and will open within a week of Romeo and Juliet.