Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr Loverman Heads to the National Theatre for First Stage Adaptation
Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr Loverman is heading to the stage for the first time, with Natasha Gordon adapting the acclaimed 2013 novel for the National Theatre. The production will have its world premiere at the Lyttelton Theatre in London on February 25, 2027, and run through April 17. Directed by Paulette Randall MBE, the production stars Danny Sapani as Barrington “Barry” Walker, Gary Beadle as his longtime best friend and secret lover Morris, and Jo Martin as his wife Carmel. Gordon, whose play Nine Night won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, brings Evaristo’s story of love, secrecy and self-discovery to the stage more than a decade after its publication.
Mr Loverman follows Barry, a 74-year-old Antiguan-born Londoner who has built a respectable life in Hackney as a husband, father, grandfather and prominent member of his community. Beneath that public identity, however, he has spent six decades in a secret relationship with Morris. As Barry begins to confront the life he has constructed and the truths he has kept hidden, the novel moves between Antigua and contemporary London, exploring sexuality, family, faith, migration, identity and the possibility of choosing a life that is more honest. The stage production follows the BBC’s 2023 television adaptation, which starred Lennie James as Barry, and marks the first theatrical interpretation of Evaristo’s novel.
The National Theatre production arrives as Mr Loverman continues to sit within a body of work through which Evaristo has explored the intersecting lives of Black British communities, particularly questions of race, gender, sexuality, class and belonging. Her 2019 novel Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker Prize, shared with Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. For the stage adaptation, Sapani and Beadle are joined by Gabrielle Brooks, Llewella Gideon, Terique Jarrett, Jenny Jules and Suzette Llewellyn, with further creative team announcements to follow. Public booking opened on September 24, with performances scheduled at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre from February 25 to April 17, 2027.
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