★★★★ 'adventurous, witty and... marvellous' The Observer

★★★★ 'poetic... and absorbingly atmospheric' The Stage

★★★★★ 'raw and gripping' The Upcoming

★★★★ 'hypnotic, funny and thought-provoking' LondonTheatre1

In a cottage by the sea, four women live in a house made for five. Meals are prepared, stories are shared and the tide breaks on the shore… When only one of their two guests arrives for the summer, it isn’t quite the reunion they were all hoping for …

Sea Creatures is Cordelia Lynn’s first play at Hampstead Theatre. She is an award-winning playwright, librettist and dramaturg. Other work includes Love and Other Acts of Violence (Donmar Warehouse), Three Sisters (Almeida), One for Sorrow and Lela & Co. (Royal Court). James Macdonald was an Associate and Deputy Director at the Royal Court for 14 years, where he directed Cordelia Lynn’s One for Sorrow. His work for Hampstead includes Wild by Mike Bartlett in 2016 and #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Weiwei by Howard Brenton in 2013. 

Sea Creatures will star Geraldine Alexander (Oslo and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, National Theatre; Bridgerton, Netflix) as Shirley, Pearl Chanda (Three Sisters, Almeida; One for Sorrow, Royal Court) as George, Thusitha Jayasundera ([BLANK], Donmar; Stories, National Theatre) as Sarah and Grace Saif (13 Reasons Why, Netflix; The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar) as Toni. 

They will be joined by Tom Mothersdale (Love and Other Acts of Violence, Donmar; Blue Water and Cold and Fresh, Lyric), Tony Turner (The Visit, National Theatre; This House, Chichester Festival Theatre/Garrick/National Theatre/UK tour) and June Watson (As you like it, Soho Place; A Doll's House Part 2, Donmar).

Sea Creatures was written during a residency at MacDowell in 2018.

This production has been kindly supported by Anatol Orient and Andrew Rodger.

Our promise to you

In the event of Sea Creatures being postponed, you can choose between a full refund or credit to be used for any show at Hampstead.

As always, our audience, company and staff are our top priority. For more information about how we’re keeping you safe, please click here.

We are excited to introduce two closed captioned shows for Sea Creatures. To book for these shows, please select either 19th April at 19:45 or 20th April at 14:45 and select the Caption User price type on the booking page.

CONTENT WARNINGS - sea creatures

This production contains:

The use of herbal cigarettes

Strong language

Injury

Self-harm

Ableist language

Animal death

This production contains reference(s) to:

Miscarriage

Domestic abuse

Death

Please note that our content warnings evolve as the production does throughout rehearsal and previews, so there may be changes made between booking and attending the theatre. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about specific themes or concerns, please call the Box Office on 020 7722 9301 or email boxoffice@hampsteadtheatre.com