Jordan Stephens to star in 'Entertaining Mr Sloane' at the Young Vic

Stephens, who is one half of the hit hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, will make his stage debut in Joe Orton’s queer cult classic play beginning in September.

The Young Vic has named the complete cast of its fall production of Entertaining Mr Sloane, featuring Jordan Stephens in his stage debut. Performances run 15 September to 8 November, with opening night on 24 September.

Stephens, one half of the chart-topping hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks and screen actor in films like Star Wars: Rogue One, will star as Sloane alongside Christopher Fairbank (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet) as Kemp and the previously announced Tamzin Outhwaite (Abigail’s Party) as Kath and Daniel Cerqueira (A Gentleman in Moscow) as Ed.

“I love the young Vic and feel incredibly grateful to have this opportunity," Stephens said in a statement. "I’m terrified and excited. I couldn’t have imagined my stage debut arriving in this way. With such an iconic, wicked play and under the certified guidance of Nadia Fall. As well as stage veterans in Tamzin, Daniel and Chris. What an honour.”

Nadia Fall, the play's director and the Young Vic's artistic director, said in a statement: “Jordan Stephens is an artistic polymath, from writing and screen to music and his campaigning. I’m incredibly excited to be directing his stage debut. He has the ear of a new generation who will be discovering Orton for the first time through Jordan’s Sloane, the thought of that is simply thrilling. Together with the rest of the brilliant cast, I cannot wait to channel the downright audacity of this play!”

The 1963 queer cult classic play by Joe Orton follows the lonely Kath as she takes the mysterious Mr Sloane into their family home, inviting her brother and father's skepticism that soon turns into intrigue. What starts as a convenient living arrangement becomes a dangerous game of desire and deceit.

The show's creative team includes set and costume designer Peter McKintosh, lighting designer Richard Howell, sound designer Tingying Dong, movement director James Cousins, fight and intimacy Director Haruka Kuroda, voice and dialect coach Richard Ryder, and wig, hair, and make-up designer Carole Hancock.

Book Entertaining Mr Sloane tickets on Londontheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Daniel Cerqueira, Jordan Stephens, and Tamzin Outhwaite for Entertaining Mr Sloane. (Photo by BlackSocks)