Traitors gets a ‘daring and surprising’ stage adaptation | Traitors

There’s the hugely popular TV series, a two-hour immersive experience, a board game, a card game, and perhaps just for the biggest fans, the chance to purchase full-length hooded capes from the brands.

Now Traitors will be adapted for the stage, in what producers say will be a “daring and surprising” theatrical experience.

Following the Season 4 finale on Friday, it was announced that the concept is being developed as a theatrical production that will open in London in 2027.

John Fenimore, comedy writer, crossword puzzler and familiar voice on Radio 4, is writing the show, and it will be directed by Robert Hastie, deputy artistic director of the National Theatre.

The announcement was made jointly by Studio Lambert, which makes the TV series, and Neal Street Productions, a company co-founded by Sam Mendes, which has a catalog that includes Call the Midwife on TV, The Lehman Trilogy on stage, and Hamnet on movie screens.

Few details have been revealed about what audiences can expect, but it is understood that the format is a theatrical one.

The partnership with Neil Street “allows us to reimagine the show as a bold, surprising theatrical spectacle,” said Stephen Lambert, CEO of Lambert Studio.

“Taking The Traitors from screen to stage is a hugely exciting next step for this much-loved brand,” he said. “Loyal fans should expect an intense and exhilarating night as we uncover an exciting new hunting ground for our traitors.”

Neal Street Productions co-founder Caro Newling said: “In developing The Traitors for theatre, Neal Street and Studio Lambert have nurtured a team of dedicated, brilliant theatremakers…to bring a bold, structural touch to the format that only the live medium can provide.”

Traitors has become a global reality TV phenomenon since it began showing on Dutch television in 2021 as De Verraders.

There are at least 30 versions around the world from Australia to Ukraine, all of which encourage contestants to manipulate, lie and stab in the back in pursuit of murder.

In the US it is presented by Alan Cumming, in Ireland it is presented by Derry Girls actor Siobhan McSweeney, and in the UK it is presented by Claudia Winkleman, who concluded season four at the weekend with the win of Rachel Duffy and Stephen Libby, who kept their promise to remain loyal which meant sharing the cash prize of £95,750.

Duffy, seen by some as the most brilliant traitor to date, said she would often walk through her home city of Newry and people would shout “You’re a big traitor!”, and that she always took it in the spirit in which it was intended.

The UK final on Friday achieved a peak audience of 9.6 million, making it the most-watched final in the ‘civilian’ version. The Celebrity Edition, won by Alan Carr, had a 28-day peak of 15.2 million.

In the age of YouTube and TikTok and with younger audiences increasingly turning away from live TV, insiders find this type of personality fascinating.

Fenimore is best known as a radio and television writer. As well as creating, writing and appearing on Radio 4’s Cabin Fever, he has written extensively for Mitchell and Webb. He also sets occult crossword puzzles and was the third person in nearly a century to solve the literary puzzle The Jawbone of Cain.

Hastie’s CV includes Hamlet at the National Theater and the musical Mincemeat, currently in the West End and on Broadway.