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Stranger Things prequel play promises to be a ‘truly epic event’

The creators of Stranger Things: The First Shadow — a new play hitting the West End in December — have said it will be an “unbelievably exciting theatrical event”.

The play, which serves as a prequel to the Duffer Brothers’ hugely successful Netflix show, will be directed by the Emmy, Tony and Bafta-winner Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, who recently directed Jodie Comer’s West End debut in Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow marks Netflix’s first foray into theatre. Greg Lombardo, the vice-president of live experiences for Netflix, said: “We are incredibly thrilled to expand this exciting universe with Netflix’s first live stage production. Theatregoers will be swept up in a truly epic event worthy of Stranger Things.”

Sonia Friedman, who is co-producing the play with Netflix, added: “The world and mythology of Stranger Things has enabled a rich and fertile ground for creating an incredible story for the stage. The Duffer Brothers have built a huge global following for good reason, and a world-class creative team has built on their boundless imagination to dream up an unbelievably exciting theatrical event for our audiences.”

The play, which is set in the 1950s and features younger versions of characters from the show — including Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado and Bob Newby — will be brought to life by a multi-award-winning creative team, who will “take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension”, according to the play’s website.

Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, who created the spectacular magical illusions for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, will be designing the illusions and visual effects for The First Shadow, while 59 Productions will design video and visual effects. Other key creatives include Miriam Buether (set design); Brigitte Reiffenstuel (costume design); Jon Clark (lighting design) and Paul Arditti (sound design).

Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in 2016 and quickly became one of the streamer’s flagship series. Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the sci-fi horror show is an homage to the works of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.

The Duffer Brothers said the idea for the play originally came from Daldry, but that they quickly became excited when they realised how much potential there was for filling out the backstory of the Stranger Things universe. They even said that events in the play have influenced their writing on the fifth and final season of the series, which starts filming this year.

“You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things,” the brothers said. “We’re dying to tell you more about the story but won’t — it’s more fun to discover it for yourself.”

The show was written by Kate Trefry, a writer and co-executive producer on the series, from an original story by Matt and Ross Duffer, Jack Thorne (Enola Holmes) and Trefry.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow opens at the Phoenix Theatre on Charing Cross Road on 14 December.