Russell Tovey brings the Donmar’s sold-out real-time thriller to the West End, as a police officer on desk duty taking a 999 call, directed by Punchdrunk’s Felix Barrett.
Russell Tovey, of The History Boys and Being Human, brings the Donmar Warehouse thriller The Guilty to the Harold Pinter Theatre in St James’s from Monday 18 January 2027. Felix Barrett, artistic director of Punchdrunk, directs.
Chloë Moss wrote the play from Den Skyldige, the 2018 Danish film by Gustav Möller that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Möller wrote the screenplay with Emil Nygaard Albertsen.
Tovey plays Joe, a police officer stuck on desk duty, who takes a 999 call from a woman named Emily. The play unfolds in real time as he tries to read the fragments of the call.
The production opened at the Donmar in Covent Garden in 2026, the first Barrett had directed there, and sold out its run. The West End transfer is a strictly limited season, closing on Saturday 3 April 2027.
Tovey played Rudge in The History Boys on stage and on film, and George Sands in the BBC’s Being Human. He is also a collector of contemporary art.
Sensara and Mark Rubinstein present the transfer with the Donmar Warehouse.