Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has announced its full cast for the 10th anniversary UK tour. There are familiar names on the bill, and I’ll get to them. But first, I want to tell you about Zaynab Shahid.
Zaynab will play Fatimah, and the tour will mark her professional debut. She has recently graduated from Urdang and is passionate about celebrating diverse voices and stories in theatre. She is proud to share her South Asian heritage with audiences and hopes her journey will encourage young performers to believe in themselves, follow their dreams and never be afraid to be who they are.
That feels like a lovely place to begin a story about Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Here is a performer taking her first professional step in a musical about finding the courage to be seen. I hope a young person in the audience spots Zaynab on stage and thinks, “Perhaps there’s room for me up there too.”
Zaynab isn’t the only cast member reaching a milestone. Ashcon Rahmani, who will play Jamie New, is also making his professional debut. Originally from Rotherham, he is a recent Urdang graduate who has trained in musical theatre for six years. Kyle Dick, another recent Urdang graduate, makes his professional theatre debut as Dean Paxton, while Callum Saddler makes his adult professional debut as Young Loco and first cover Jamie. There is a great deal of experience in this company, but also the excitement of performers beginning new chapters.
Rebecca Trehearn will play Jamie’s mum, Margaret New. Joanne Clifton joins as Miss Hedge for the Cheltenham to Newcastle dates, and Divina De Campo will play Hugo and Loco Chanelle. Joanne recently appeared in Fawlty Towers in the West End and on tour, and won Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 with Ore Oduba. Divina, runner-up on the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, won a UK Theatre Award for her performance in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
The rest of the announced cast is Natasha Lewis as Ray, Mariam Pope as Pritti, Matthew Cavan as Tray Sophisticay, Daniel Jacob as Sandra Bollock, Jenson Steele as Laika Virgin, William Hazell as Dad, Ethan Casey-Clothier as Levi, Ellie Eames as Vicki, Uzuazo O’David as Cy, Grace Porter as Bex, Fin Scott as Mickey, Will Stevenson-Jones as Sayid and Zarina Thompson as Becca. Jáiden Lodge and Ynez Williams join as swings, while Samantha Ivey will understudy Margaret, Miss Hedge and Ray.
And yes, that is a cast list worth taking a breath over. Daniel Jacob has previously appeared in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End and on tour; Mariam Pope marks her professional musical theatre debut as Pritti; and Matthew Cavan also performs as the drag artist Cherrie Ontop. There are many different paths into this company, which seems fitting for a show asking people to make space for who they are.
If you haven’t met Jamie yet, he is a sixteen-year-old from a Sheffield council estate who doesn’t quite fit in and is frightened of what comes next. With the support of his mum and his friends, he faces prejudice and bullies and finds his way into the spotlight. The musical was inspired by the documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, about Jamie Campbell and his mother Margaret, although the stage story dramatises and fictionalises parts of their lives.
This anniversary tour begins at Leeds Grand Theatre on 15 January 2027, ten years after the musical first opened at Sheffield Crucible. It transferred to the West End later in 2017, went on to tour the UK and Ireland, reached audiences internationally and was adapted into a 2021 film. For its return, the show will also feature a new song by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae. I’d love to know where it lands in Jamie’s story, but I’m quite happy to wait and hear it from my seat.
The musical features music by Dan Gillespie Sells and a book and lyrics by Tom MacRae, from an idea by Jonathan Butterell. Butterell is the original director, with Matt Ryan directing the tour. The creative team includes designer Anna Fleischle, choreographer Kate Prince, lighting designer Lucy Carter, sound designer Paul Groothuis and musical supervisor Theo Jamieson. Casting is by Will Burton. This Sheffield Theatres production is produced on tour by Nica Burns.
After Leeds, the announced tour route takes Jamie to Chester, Shrewsbury, Sunderland, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Wycombe, Sheffield, Manchester, Wimbledon, Liverpool, Truro, Eastbourne, Glasgow, Southampton, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Aylesbury, Cardiff, Nottingham, Oxford, Woking, Bradford and Newcastle. Leicester’s Curve has also announced a run from Monday 14 to Saturday 19 June 2027.
I expect the big names will get plenty of headlines, as they should. But I’ll be watching for Zaynab Shahid as Fatimah, too. Somewhere in those audiences may be a young performer wondering whether theatre has a place for them. How wonderful if seeing Zaynab begin her professional career helps them answer yes.
Tickets for the Leicester run are on sale at curveonline.co.uk, by phone on 0116 242 3595 or in person at Curve’s box office. Check your local theatre for tickets to other tour dates.
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