- The critically acclaimed production of John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold will embark on a major UK tour beginning at Leicester Curve on the 12 March 2026 and continuing through to August 2026.
- A global best-seller for over six decades, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is the first novel by John le Carré to be adapted for the stage.
- Award-winning writer David Eldridge adapts the novel that revolutionised the modern espionage genre with Jeremy Herrin directing.
- Following its sold out premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre the production will run for 14 weeks @sohoplace in London’s West End from 17 November – 21 February before embarking on the UK Tour.
The Ink Factory and Second Half Productions have today announced an extensive UK-wide tour of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold which will open at Leicester Curve on the 12 March 2026, and continue through to August 2026. Tickets for the UK tour will be available from: spyonstage.com/tour.
Adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright and screenwriter David Eldridge (Festen, End) this is the first novel by le Carré – the undisputed master of the modern spy genre, whose works include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Night Manager – to be brought to life on stage. Jeremy Herrin will direct following his recent acclaimed productions of Grace Pervades, People, Places and Things and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Casting for the touring production is to be announced.
Following its 2024 sold out premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre The Spy Who Came In From The Cold will receive its West End premiere @sohoplace with a 14-week run from 17 November 2025 – 21 February 2026 ahead of embarking on the production’s first UK tour in March 2026.
British intelligence officer Alec Leamas is weary, hardened, and ready to come in from the cold. But when spymaster George Smiley presents one final mission — dangerous, deceptive, and deeply personal — Leamas agrees to stay in the game. Dispatched into enemy territory, he finds his convictions tested and his defences breached by Liz Gold, a quietly defiant librarian whose compassion threatens to thaw his frostbitten heart.
A global bestseller for over six decades and named one of TIME Magazine’s All-Time 100 Novels, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is a riveting journey through the fog-shrouded terrain of Cold War espionage, deception, and moral compromise.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, is designed by Max Jones with lighting design by Azusa Ono, sound design by Elizabeth Purnell, composition by Paul Englishby, and movement direction by Lucy Cullingford. General Management is by Second Half Productions with Melting Pot as Executive Producer for the UK Tour.
David Eldridge says: “It has been a great privilege adapting John le Carré’s youthful masterpiece for the theatre, and it gives me great pleasure that after the play’s west end run this autumn-winter season, we’re able to share the play with audiences across the UK on tour. Although set in the murky world of the cold war espionage thriller it’s a strikingly relevant story for our times. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold asks us how one can retain one’ s humanity and morality if one must operate with the same impunity and brutality as your enemy to defeat him?”
Jeremy Herrin, Director and co-founder of Second Half Productions says: “Rapt full houses in Chichester told us that John le Carré’s hit novel translates meaningfully to the stage and so I am delighted that we are bringing The Spy Who Came In From The Cold to audiences around the UK next year, following the production’s West End premiere at Soho Place this autumn. The high stakes of the Cold War, the moral bankruptcy of both East and West, and the power of love when Alec Leamas eventually finds something worth fighting for, David Eldridge keeps us on the edge of our seats through the twists and turns of this shattering and thrilling ride. I can’t wait for this next chapter.”
Simon Cornwell co-CEO, and co-founder of The Ink Factory says: “This first ever adaptation of John le Carré’s novels for the stage has been received with warmth and critical acclaim which is both deeply heartening, and incredibly well deserved given the wonderful work of David and Jeremy. The tension of the story is palpable in a completely new way through this telling of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, unravelling betrayal, humanity, and the nature of truth live in front of audiences – and it’s wonderful to know it will now reach even wider through this national tour.”
Justin Audibert Artistic Director and Kathy Bourne Executive Director of Chichester Festival Theatre say: ‘Following its sell-out run in 2024 at Chichester Festival Theatre, we’re thrilled that Jeremy Herrin’s outstanding production will be seen not only in London but across the UK. As one of the country’s leading regional theatres, we’re keenly aware of the vital role theatres play in their local communities; so for audiences in no less than 21 venues – from Brighton to Glasgow and Bromley to Cardiff – to have the opportunity to see David Eldridge’s gripping stage version of John le Carré’s masterpiece is hugely gratifying.’
The Chichester Festival Theatre production of John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, is produced by The Ink Factory and Second Half Productions.
DAVID ELDRIDGE is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His work is performed across the UK and internationally in translation.
His original plays include the first two plays in a trilogy for the National Theatre, Beginning and Middle; Market Boy (National Theatre); Holy Warriors (Shakespeare’s Globe); In Basildon, Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness (Royal Court) and Under the Blue Sky (Royal Court & Duke of York’s Theatre, West End: Time Out Live and Theatregoers Choice Awards for Best New Play); The Stock Da’wa and Falling (Hampstead Theatre); The Knot of the Heart (Almeida Theatre: Off West End Award for Best Play); A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (co-written with Simon Stephens and Robert Holman, Lyric Hammersmith); Something, Someone, Somewhere (Sixty Six Books, Bush Theatre); M.A.D. and Serving It Up (Bush Theatre); Summer Begins (Donmar Warehouse); A Week with Tony, Fighting for Breath (Finborough Theatre); Dirty (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Cabbage for Tea, Tea, Tea! (Platform 4, Exeter).
Adaptations include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold from the novel by John le Carré (Chichester Festival Theatre), new versions of Strindberg’s Miss Julie and Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea (Royal Exchange, Manchester), John Gabriel Borkman and The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse); Jean-Marie Besset’s Babylone (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); and Festen from the Dogme 95 Film (Almeida, Lyric Theatre West End & Broadway: Theatregoer’s Choice Award for Best New Play).
Screenplays include The Scandalous Lady W (BBC2), Our Hidden Lives and Killers (BBC4) and his many plays for radio include The Picture Man, which won the Prix Europa for Best European Radio Drama.
David Eldridge is currently under commission to ITV Studios and Mammoth Screen for Betrayal, a four-part TV series, shooting in summer 2025, starring Shaun Evans. In November 2025 the National Theatre will present the world premiere of the final play in his trilogy about love and relationships, End, starring Clive Owen and Saskia Reeves.
He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London.
JEREMY HERRIN is a Director of Second Half Productions and the former Artistic Director of Headlong and Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court. Over two decades, Jeremy has directed a string of award winning hits that transferred to the West End and New York, including That Face by Polly Stenham (Royal Court and West End), This House by James Graham (National Theatre and West End), Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (RSC, West End and Broadway), The Nether by Jennifer Haley (Royal Court and West End), People, Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan (National Theatre, West End and St Ann’s Warehouse, New York), Labour of Love by James Graham (West End), Best of Enemies (Young Vic) and Almost Famous the Musical (Broadway). In 2021, Jeremy directed the world premiere of After Life by Jack Thorne (National Theatre). For Second Half Productions, he has directed The Glass Menagerie, Olivier-nominated play Best of Enemies by James Graham (West End), David Ireland’s Ulster American, A Mirror by Sam Holcroft, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and the West End revival of People, Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan. Later this year Jeremy will direct the West End transfer of Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahoe’s Every Brilliant Thing @sohoplace.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
John le Carré is the nom de plume of David John Moore Cornwell, who was born on 19th October 1931 in Poole, Dorset. He was educated at Sherborne School, the University of Bern and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in Modern Languages. He taught at Eton from 1956 to 1958 and was a member of the British Foreign Service from 1959 to 1964, serving first as Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Bonn, and subsequently as Political Consul in Hamburg.
He began writing in 1961 and published twenty-six novels and one memoir. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became an international bestseller, spending 32 weeks at number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list; it was selected as one of the All-Time 100 Novels by Time magazine.
Many of his novels have been made into film, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy), The Constant Gardener (Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz), The Russia House (Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer) and The Tailor of Panama (Pierce Brosnan). Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley’s People (starring Alec Guinness), A Perfect Spy (Peter Egan), The Night Manager (Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hollander, Elizabeth Debicki) and The Little Drummer Girl (Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård) have all been adapted for television.
John le Carré declined all British-based honours, but accepted the title of Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) in 2005, and the Goethe Medal (Germany) in 2011. He was also the recipient of the Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm at the beginning of 2020. In 2010, he was awarded the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, which he received at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.
He was an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford and held Honorary Doctorates at Exeter University, the Universities of St. Andrews, Bath, Southampton, Plymouth, Bern, Oxford and Falmouth College of Arts.
He died of pneumonia in Cornwall on 12th December 2020.
“Blisteringly contemporary…Each new book from le Carré is refreshingly different and uniquely compelling“ – The Economist.
“Finely drawn and precisely engineered – one of our finest novelists.“ – The Financial Times.
“His readers will know from his first line that they are in the presence of a great enchanter.“ Robert McCrum – The Observer