Adjoa Andoh, Rosie O'Donnell and Julie Hesmondhalgh Join Star-Studded Cast of Gisele Pelicot Trial Play in London

A host of well-known actors and public figures, including US comedian Rosie O'Donnell, Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh, Celebrity Traitors contestant Julie Hesmondhalgh and former EastEnders actress Tamzin Outhwaite, are set to take part in a one-off theatrical production based on the trial of Dominique Pelicot, the man convicted of drugging and raping his then wife Gisele and recruiting dozens of strangers to abuse her while she was unconscious.

The production, titled The Pelicot Trial, will be staged at London's County Hall on 30 November by the Young Vic theatre and will feature a large ensemble of 30 actors and public figures. It is described as a piece of "documentary theatre," a form that draws directly on real transcripts, testimonies and official records rather than a conventional fictional script. Organisers say the work has been assembled from documents produced during the trial as well as psychiatric reports compiled on the numerous men who were prosecuted in the case.

The case itself sent shockwaves through France and far beyond, prompting widespread debate about sexual violence, consent and the treatment of survivors within the justice system. Dominique Pelicot was handed a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of drugging and raping his then wife over a period of years and of inviting 50 other men to rape her while she was unconscious. The revelations emerged only after investigators discovered evidence on his computer equipment, a discovery that ultimately exposed a sprawling network of alleged abusers.

Among the other performers announced for the London staging are Truly, Madly, Deeply star Juliet Stevenson, All Creatures Great and Small actor Samuel West, The Sixth Sense's Olivia Williams and Slow Horses' Kadiff Kirwan. The line-up also includes comedian Rosie Jones, Dune actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Bridgerton's Lorraine Ashbourne and Rizzle Kicks rapper Jordan Stephens. Organisers have indicated that further casting announcements will follow in the coming weeks, suggesting the ensemble may grow further before the performance date.

According to the Young Vic, the play was developed in collaboration with journalists and feminist organisations based in France, a detail that underscores the production's ambition to ground its account in rigorous research rather than dramatised speculation. The theatre has characterised the piece as "a profoundly affecting piece of documentary theatre" that pays tribute to what it calls "the ordinary woman who opened the way to change," a reference to Gisele Pelicot's decision to speak publicly rather than retreat from view.

Gisele Pelicot, now 73, made the unusual and courageous choice to waive her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse, allowing her name and image to be reported widely. She has consistently argued that shame should attach to her abusers rather than to her, a stance that resonated with campaigners and members of the public across the world and turned her into a symbol of resilience in the face of sexual violence.

The Pelicot Trial is not a brand-new work. It received its world premiere in Vienna last year before embarking on an international tour that has taken it to cities including Avignon, the French city where the trial was heard, as well as New York, Lisbon, Milan and Bergen. The London performance will mark another high-profile stop on that journey and will also be streamed online, extending its reach to audiences unable to attend in person.

The decision to stage the work at County Hall, a grand historic building on the south bank of the River Thames, rather than in a traditional theatre, appears designed to lend the performance a solemn, quasi-institutional atmosphere appropriate to its subject matter. Documentary theatre of this kind often seeks to blur the boundary between reportage and performance, inviting audiences to confront material that might otherwise remain confined to courtrooms and news reports.

The involvement of such a broad array of celebrities, from soap stars to Hollywood names and a chart-topping musician, is likely to raise the production's profile considerably and draw attention to the issues at its heart. Casting familiar faces in a work about sexual violence can be a delicate balancing act, but the organisers appear intent on using star power to amplify rather than overshadow the testimony being presented.

The four-hour running time signals that the production does not intend to simplify or condense the material. A performance of that length suggests audiences will be asked to sit with the cumulative weight of the evidence, mirroring in some small way the endurance demanded of survivors navigating lengthy legal processes and public scrutiny. The decision to stream the event also reflects a recognition that not everyone will be able to commit to such an extended live experience.

The broader cultural response to the Pelicot case has been substantial, with the trial generating extensive international coverage and sparking renewed conversations about the prevalence of drug-facilitated sexual assault and the ways in which legal systems handle such crimes. The play arrives amid that ongoing reckoning, positioning itself as both an artistic response and a form of public record.

The Young Vic's framing of the work as a tribute to a woman who "opened the way to change" places Gisele Pelicot at the centre of the narrative, even as the production draws on the testimonies of the many men prosecuted alongside her former husband. That dual focus, on both the survivor and the machinery of justice that surrounded her, may prove to be one of the production's most challenging and most valuable dimensions.

Tickets for the London performance are scheduled to go on general sale on Wednesday, and given the high-profile cast and the subject's international resonance, demand is likely to be strong. The combination of a single-night staging, an online stream and a lengthy running time makes the event unusual by the standards of commercial theatre, suggesting it is conceived as a civic and commemorative occasion as much as an entertainment.

For audiences and critics alike, the central question will be whether documentary theatre can do justice to material of such gravity without tipping into exploitation or simplification. The Young Vic's track record and the involvement of journalists and feminist organisations in the development process offer some reassurance, but the work will ultimately be judged on how sensitively it handles the testimonies at its core.

What remains clear is that the Pelicot case has already left a lasting mark on public consciousness, and this London staging represents another chapter in the ongoing cultural processing of a trial that forced difficult conversations about consent, power and shame into the open. Whether through the live performance or the online stream, the production ensures that Gisele Pelicot's decision to speak out continues to echo well beyond the courtroom where her former husband was sentenced.