Learn about Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough's careers ahead of 'Mary Page Marlowe'

The two acclaimed actresses join forces to tell one woman's story in Tracy Letts's play at the Old Vic.

Marianka Swain2 September, 2025, 10:00

The Old Vic is welcoming not just one but two Oscar-nominated actresses to star in Mary Page Marlowe, which kicks off the final season at the venue for outgoing artistic director Matthew Warchus. Susan Sarandon and Andrea Riseborough play the same woman in Tracy Letts’s play, which is making its UK premiere after running Off Broadway in 2018.

Mary Page Marlowe is a time-jumping portrait, covering 70 years of one woman’s life in 11 scenes and five Marys. The two stars will play her at different ages and life stages, together creating a fascinating depiction. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Letts has said he’s deeply gratified to see “these remarkable actresses” performing his play.

Sarandon, whose work spans movies like Thelma & Louise, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Enchanted, and Riseborough, known for The Death of Stalin, Birdman, and The Long Walk to Finchley, should be a gripping combination. Get to know their work ahead of your theatre trip.

Book Mary Page Marlowe tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

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Susan Sarandon on screen

Sarandon got her career break in the 1970 movie Joe, playing a teenage girl with a drug-dealing boyfriend. She played one of her iconic roles a few years later, in 1975: the innocent Janet, who, with her fiancé Brad, strays into the castle owned by the fabulous mad scientist Dr. Frank N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

She got her first Oscar nomination for the 1980 romantic crime drama Atlantic City, starring opposite Burt Lancaster, and was part of another cult hit in 1987: the fantastical romp The Witches of Eastwick. But her big star-making vehicle was the 1988 movie Bull Durham, with Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins, in which she played a dedicated baseball groupie.

Another of Sarandon’s defining roles came in the 1991 movie Thelma & Louise, as a woman on the run with Geena Davis. She picked up an Oscar nomination for that, and also for Lorenzo’s Oil (1992) and The Client (1994). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 1995 drama Dead Man Walking, playing a nun who visits a murderer on death row.

Sarandon’s other notable roles include Marmee in Little Women (1994), Queen Narissa in Enchanted (2007), and, on TV, she has appeared in shows such as 30 Rock, The Simpsons, and Feud: Bette and Joan, playing Bette Davis.

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Andrea Riseborough on screen

Like Sarandon, Riseborough has played a real-life figure: in her case Margaret Thatcher, in the 2008 BBC film The Long Walk to Finchley. She also appeared in the English Civil War drama The Devil’s Whore, alongside John Simm, Dominic West, and Michael Fassbender, and in the political drama Party Animals, led by Matt Smith.

Riseborough had increasingly large roles in a series of British films: the David Mitchell and Robert Webb-starring Magicians (2007); Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky (2008); the 1960s strike movie Made in Dagenham (2010); dystopian drama Never Let Me Go (2010) with Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, and Carey Mulligan; and Graham Greene adaptation Brighton Rock (2010).

Riseborough had key roles in the Oscar-winning movie Birdman, tennis drama Battle of the Sexes, and historical satire The Death of Stalin (both 2017), and Matilda the Musical (2022), playing Mrs Wormwood. Riseborough was Oscar nominated for Best Actress for the harrowing addiction drama To Leslie (2022).

Riseborough’s other TV projects include Agatha Christie adaptation The Witness for the Prosecution (2016), Italian crime drama ZeroZeroZero (2020), and political satire The Regime, starring Kate Winslet.

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Susan Sarandon on stage

An Evening with Richard Nixon and… (1972)

Sarandon made her Broadway debut in the ensemble of Gore Vidal’s play, which saw a fierce debate over the character and legacy of President Richard Nixon, at the Shubert Theatre. This premiere production starred George S. Irving and was directed by Edwin Sherin.

Exit the King (2009)

Sarandon returned to Broadway in a revival of Ionesco’s absurdist drama about a king facing mortality at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. She played his wife, Queen Marguerite, opposite Geoffrey Rush, who won a Tony Award for his performance.

Happy Talk (2019)

Sarandon starred in the Off-Broadway premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s comic play as Lorraine, a lonely woman who throws herself into community theatre and also tries to sort a green card marriage for her mother’s Serbian-immigrant home aide.

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Andrea Riseborough on stage

A Brief History of Helen of Troy (2005)

Riseborough played a gawky American high school student in Mark Schultz’s play at London’s Soho Theatre. Her teen character Charlotte fears she’s not beautiful like her late mother, and sets out to become as desired as Helen of Troy.

Burn / Chatroom / Citizenship (2006)

Riseborough was part of a youthful company performing in a trio of short works, alongside fellow rising stars Andrew Garfield and Matt Smith. The plays, respectively, explored online bullying, troubled teens, and how a recent addiction to the school curriculum sparks an identity crisis for one queer character.

Measure for Measure / Miss Julie (2006)

Riseborough won praise from critics for playing the pious Isabella, who faces a terrible dilemma when a corrupt leader offers to spare her brother’s life only if she has sex with him, in Peter Hall’s production of Shakespeare’s knotty drama at Theatre Royal Bath.

Hall also directed Strindberg’s Miss Julie in rep in Bath, giving Riseborough the opportunity to show her range by playing the restless title character, who swings between coquettish flirtation and furious contempt.

The Pain and the Itch (2007)

Riseborough appeared in the UK premiere of American playwright Bruce Norris’s social satire at the Royal Court. She played the Eastern European girlfriend of a morally bankrupt plastic surgeon; the cast also featured Matthew Macfadyen, Sara Stewart, and Amanda Boxer.

A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians (2008)

Polish writer Dorota Maslowska’s absurdist, increasingly surreal road-trip play divided critics when it came to the Soho Theatre, but Riseborough and Andrew Tiernan won praise for their committed performances as the wandering central couple.

Ivanov (2008)

As part of the Donmar Warehouse’s West End season, at Wyndham’s Theatre, Riseborough joined an all-star company for Michael Grandage’s hit revival of Chekhov’s early play. She appeared as the passionate Sasha opposite Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hiddleston, and Gina McKee.

The Pride (2010)

Riseborough’s most recent stage production was Off Broadway, at MCC Theater. She starred with Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw in the American premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s romantic drama, directed by Joe Mantello. Riseborough was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and a Lucille Lortel Award.

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What to expect from Mary Page Marlowe

This is an exciting return to stage for both actresses. It’s been 15 years since Riseborough’s last theatre appearance, and the production marks Sarandon’s UK theatre debut. Both have done a fascinating range of work, on stage and screen, and this should be a rich collaboration.

Mary Page Marlowe premiered in 2016 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, with a cast featuring Letts’s wife Carrie Coon. The Old Vic company includes Melanie La Barrie, Rosy McEwen, Hugh Quarshie, Paul Thornley, Lauren Ward, Alisha Weir, and Eleanor Worthington-Cox.

Riseborough has said it’s an honour to take on the role of Mary “alongside the extraordinary Susan Sarandon”, and to be reunited with Matthew Warchus – who directed her in the Matilda movie. Sarandon said she was “terrified but excited”. Playwright Letts, who won a Pulitzer and a Tony for August: Osage County, described the production as “a genuine thrill”.