Jim Cartwright's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, written for Jane Horrocks's impressions of Garland, Bassey and Monroe, gets a new National Theatre production.
Francesca Mills takes the title role in Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the National Theatre on the South Bank from Wednesday 2 December 2026. Robert Hastie directs the new production.
Cartwright wrote the play for the National in 1992, for Jane Horrocks. She could do note-perfect impressions of Garland, Bassey and Monroe and had never had a part built for her. It follows a silent girl in a northern terrace who speaks only by singing in other people’s voices.
Her monstrous mother runs the house, and a small-time agent hears her through a wall and sees money. The play won the Olivier, became a film and has been revived steadily since.
The title role asks its actor to sing in borrowed voices and to play a girl who cannot speak. Cartwright had already written Road, which did for a northern street what this play does for one house.
Hastie made Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which also held a northern setting and a score together. His production plays the Dorfman Theatre until Saturday 23 January 2027, then tours nationally until March 2027.