Overview
- Producers formally announced the new play Savage on Monday, naming Jonathan Harvey as writer and Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster as director.
- The world premiere is scheduled to open at Curve Leicester on 13 February 2027 and the production will tour to Liverpool, Salford, Canterbury, Bath, Norwich and Birmingham before an intended West End run.
- RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Danny Beard has been cast in the title role and has called the prospect of portraying O’Grady ‘terrifying’ while noting Lily Savage’s live-comedy roots differ from contemporary televised drag.
- The project was developed with Paul O’Grady’s blessing and draws on his autobiographies and early collaboration with Harvey, with production partners ROYO, Curve, Hope Mill Theatre and Eilene Davidson.
- Further casting and creative details will be released later and tickets have been set for the announced tour dates, making regional venues central to the play’s rollout and public engagement with O’Grady’s story.