Following her 2017 hit play, Mosquitoes, Lucy Kirkwood returns to The National Theatre with her new play, The Welkin, directed by James Macdonald.

Set in a time where women who transgressed the norm were in danger of imprisonment, banishment and death, The Welkin looks at the fate of a young woman destined to die.

One life in the hands of 12 women.

Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley’s comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder.

When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she’s telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose.

With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst.

Screen and stage star Maxine Peake – who you’ll recognise from Black Mirror, Shameless and Funny Cow – plays Lizzy, and Ria Zmitrowicz (The Doctor), Sally. The play also stars an incredibly strong and largely female cast, including Cecilia Noble, who is no stranger to the National Theatre and has just finished performing in Bruce Norris’ Downstate.

The Welkin is directed by James Macdonald, whose recent West End productions include Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, The Father and Glengarry Glen Ross, as well as Dido Queen Of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Exiles for The National Theatre.

With such a strong cast and hot off of Lucy Kirkwood’s recent success at The National, The Welkin tickets are already flying off the shelves, so grab yours below!