{"id":766488,"date":"2026-09-10T19:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766488\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T19:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T19:58:09","slug":"sacha-baron-cohen-lined-up-for-quentin-tarantinos-west-end-playwriting-debut-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/766488\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacha Baron Cohen lined up for Quentin Tarantino\u2019s West End playwriting debut | Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

He will soon be seen resuming his old Staines rudeboy persona in the film
Ali G: Who Iz I?<\/a>, but Sacha Baron Cohen may also be eyeing a new departure \u2013 on stage.<\/p>\n

The actor will reportedly star in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s first play, The Popinjay Cavalier<\/a>, which is billed as a \u201crambunctious comedy of deception and disguise\u201d and a \u201csweeping celebration of theatre and its heightened romance\u201d, set in 1830s Europe. According to Deadline<\/a>, Baron Cohen will play the swashbuckling title character in the play, which Tarantino will also direct.<\/p>\n

The Popinjay Cavalier<\/a>, presented by Sonia Friedman Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment, was announced in March and has a planned opening date of early 2027, in a West End theatre yet to be confirmed. Tarantino, who now lives in Tel Aviv, said last year that he would move to England with his family to work on the play and that it would take up between 18 and 24 months of his life.<\/p>\n

Quentin Tarantino in 2023. Photograph: Jacopo M Raule\/Getty Images for Belles Rives Group<\/p>\n

In July, Friedman told the Sunday Times that Tarantino was \u201cvery theatre literate\u201d, and that \u201cthe most refreshing thing about him, which not all writers and directors have, is his interest in the audience experience. He wants the audience to have the best freaking night out in the theatre they\u2019ve had all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baron Cohen, who took his successful TV characters such as Ali G and Borat from the small to the big screen with huge success, has not yet had a leading role in a major stage production. He trained with the French clown guru Philippe Gaulier. When Gaulier died earlier this year, the actor told the Guardian<\/a>: \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t crossed paths with him, I\u2019d probably be doing something terribly sensible. Instead, I chose comedy \u2013 entirely because he believed in me, pushed me, and armed me with techniques that still get me into trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tarantino cast Baron Cohen in a small role in his 2012 western Django Unchained but the actor later said<\/a> that he withdrew from the production in order to star in Tom Hooper\u2019s film version of Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/a>, based on the long-running West End musical.<\/p>\n

Ali G: Who Iz I? is released next month. Publicists for Baron Cohen and The Popinjay Cavalier did not confirm the casting when contacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He will soon be seen resuming his old Staines rudeboy persona in the film Ali G: Who Iz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":766489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-766488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=766488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}