Full Cast Announced for SHADOWLANDS in the West End

Shehrazade Zafar-Arif 22 December, 2025, 13:14

Further casting has been announced for the highly anticipated West End production of Shadowlands. Joining Hugh Bonneville as C. S. Lewis and Maggie Siff as Joy Davidman will be Jeff Rawle, Tony Jayawardena, and Timothy Watson.

Artwork of SHADOWLANDS at Aldwych Theatre. Image courtesy of production.

Based on a true story, Shadowlands follows renowned author of The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis, played by Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington, W1A), during his time as an academic at Oxford, where he meets and falls in love with rebellious American poet Joy Davidman, played by Maggie Siff (Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Billions). This heartbreaking, powerful play explores this unexpected love story and Lewis's struggles with grief and a loss of faith in the wake of Davidman's illness.

Jeff Rawle (Drop the Dead Donkey, Doc Martin, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) will play Major W.H. Lewis (Warnie), older brother to C.S. Lewis. Tony Jayawardena (Nye at the National Theatre, Bend It Like Beckham The Musical, RSC’s The Tempest) will play Rev. Harry Harrington and Timothy Watson (The Archers, A Man For all Seasons, Murder on the Orient Express) will play Professor Christopher Riley.

Rebecca Blackstone, Nigel Fyfe, Jemma Geanaus, Sharan Phull, Leighton Pugh, Fode Simbo, Ernest Stroud, and Giles Taylor will also star, with Ayrton English, Nathan Jago, and Louis Wilkins alternating the role of Joy Davidman's son, Douglas.

Written by William Nicholson, and later adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, Shadowlands has seen a smash-hit West End run and an equally triumphant Tony Award-winning Broadway transfer. It is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and designed by Peter McKintosh with lighting designs by Howard Harrison and sound designs by Fergus O’Hare.

Shadowlands will open at the Aldwych Theatre on 5th February 2026.