Richard Eyre directs the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical about one of the most sensational political scandals of the 20th century.

Featuring a book and lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black, Stephen Ward focuses on the victim of the 1963 Profumo Affair, a scandal that resulted in MP John Profumo resigning from his position as Secretary of State for War and damaged the reputation of Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and his government following Profumo’s affair with Christine Keeler, the alleged mistress of a Soviet spy.

Lloyd Webber’s new musical takes its name from the English osteopath who introduced the political pair to Keeler. Targeted as a scapegoat, Ward became a reluctant martyr due to an unholy alliance between the press and the police, acting as the hinge between two worlds and the harbinger of a revolution in manners, music and morals as the ordered and respectable 50s gave way to the classless, unstoppable 60s.

Acclaimed director Eyre, whose most recent directing credits include Quartermaine’s Terms at the Wyndham’s theatre, will be joined in the creative team by designer Rob Howell (Matilda The Musical), choreographer Stephen Mear (Kiss Me, Kate) and sound designer Paul Groothuis (Sweeney Todd).

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