Play using evidence from Gisele Pelicot trial to get UK premiere

A play using documents from the Gisele Pelicot rape case will receive its UK premiere at London County Hall on November 30.

The Pelicot Rape Trial, created by Swiss director and playwright Milo Rau, will feature accounts from the trial, police files, social commentary and psychiatric reports of the 51 men who were prosecuted.

The one-off event will be performed by 30 actors and public figures as part of the Young Vic Theatre’s final shows of its 2026/7 season.

Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping her, as well as allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious, in abuse that lasted nearly a decade.

The one-off event will be performed by 30 actors and public figures on November 6 as part of the Young Vic Theatre’s final shows of its 2026/7 season (Associated Press/Alamy/PA)

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The 73-year-old, who waived her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse, said shame should fall on her abusers, not her.

Fifty men were found guilty of rape or sexual offences after a three-and-a-half-month trial in Avignon, France, which ended in December 2024.

Young Vic Theatre’s artistic director and chief executive, Nadia Fall said: “Milo Rau’s extraordinary testimonial piece The Pelicot Trial breaks out beyond our theatre walls to County Hall; a piece of confronting event-theatre which bears witness to the harrowing story of Gisèle Pelicot.”

Other plays being put on as part of the season include Dissent, which will star No Time To Die actress Lashana Lynch.

Other plays being put on as part of the season include Dissent, which will star No Time To Die actress Lashana Lynch (Ian West/PA)

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Written and directed by Debbie Tucker Green, the play “confronts ideas of control, complicity and power” and will run from March 5-April 24.

What’s the F******Point?, a satire that “skewers medical bureaucracy” and “identity politics”, which will play at The Maria Theatre from April 2-24.

Eulogy, a play that promises to take the audience on a “surreal” journey, will be performed in darkness within a shipping container situated outside the Young Vic from March 24- April 24.

There will also be a reimagining of Franz Kafka’s short story A Hunger Artist starring former Royal Ballet principal Edward Watson and performance artist Meow Meow, which will run at The Maria Theatre from June 9-26.