LONDON: The smash-hit Netflix streaming series "Stranger Things" is about to get its theatre debut.
The prequel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, will be set in Hawkins, Indiana in 1959 and follows some familiar characters, including a young Jim Hopper. This will be the streaming giant’s first live stage production.
Scheduled to open at the Phoenix Theatre in late 2023, the show will be written by Kate Trefry, who also worked on the TV series. The story is by Trefry, Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers, and Jack Thorne, who penned the stageplay for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The show is being produced by the theatre powerhouse Sonia Friedman Productions, with 21 Laps as associate producers, and will be directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott).
Here’s what has been released about the plot of the show so far:
Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy … and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.
“The world and mythology of Stranger Things has enabled a rich and fertile ground for creating an incredible story for the stage,” producer Sonia Friedman said in a statement.
“Set within the canon of Stranger Things, this new play opens in London, with the West End hosting the only place in the world to experience this new story — for now.”
Casting for roles like young Jim Hopper has not been announced, and further ticket information is yet to come.
