By Jesse Norman
Presented by OVO
Directed by Mark O’Sullivan and Adam Nichols
Power is shifting. Queen Elizabeth I is dying, James waiting to become King. Everywhere, there is opportunity to ascend.
But who will thrive, and who will fail, under the new King? Will it be the scholar Francis Bacon, whose brilliant mind is the envy of the royal court? Or his hated rival the attorney Edward Coke, already acclaimed as the greatest lawyer of his generation?
The Winding Stair tells the gripping story of these two founders of our modern world and their battle for power, pre-eminence – and the hand of the most eligible woman in the realm.
Combining humour, wit and vivid imagination, The Winding Stair is an epic tale of jealousy and intrigue in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, which holds a darkened mirror to our own contemporary politics.
Adapted by Jesse Norman from his bestselling novel – winner of the 2023 Parliamentary Book Awards, New Statesman Book of the Year and Sunday Times Book of the Week.
ABOUT JESSE NORMAN
Jesse Norman is the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire and the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. He is co-founder and Chair of NMITE, a new specialist engineering and technology university. As well as The Winding Stair, Jesse has also written biographies of Edmund Burke and Adam Smith. This is his first play.
THE BARN AUTUMN/WINTER 2026 SEASON TICKET
Enjoy all three productions of OVO's inaugural season at The Barn - Macbeth, The Winding Stair and A Christmas Carol - with a saving of 20% over individual prices. Just £69 for adults, £35 for under 25s.
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