- The full cast and creative team of the new production of David Harrower’s adaptation of Muriel Spark’s classic novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie have been announced
- The production is directed by Vicky Featherstone and features Gayle Rankin as Jean Brodie and is set to tour Scotland in 2026
- The full cast is Maureen Beattie, Liberty Black, Dyfan Dwyfor, Brian Ferguson, Sophie Fortune, Tallulah Grieve, Shreya Khaund Marshall and Bobby Rainsbury.
- The show will open at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Friday 9 October 2026, before touring to the Glasgow, Aberdeen and Pitlochry
Gayle Rankin, photographed by Rankin, takes on the iconic role of Miss Jean Brodie
A National Theatre of Scotland Production
Presented in partnership with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
A new stage adaptation by David Harrower
Based on the novel by Muriel Spark
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Full cast: Maureen Beattie as Miss MacKay, Liberty Black as Mary Macgregor, Dyfan Dwyfor as Teddy Lloyd, Brian Ferguson as Gordon Lowther, Sophie Fortune as Joyce Emily, Tallulah Greive as Monica Douglas, Shreya Khaund Marshall as Jenny Gray, Bobby Rainsbury as Sandy Stranger and Gayle Rankin as Jean Brodie.
Stuart Burt CDG CSA – Casting Director; Robyn Ferguson – Casting for National Theatre of Scotland; Chloe Lamford – Set Designer; Lizzie Powell – Lighting Designer; Lewis den Hertog – Video Designer; Charlotte McLean – Movement Director; featuring music by Anna Meredith; Pippa Murphy – Sound Designer and Music Composer; Anna Orton – Costume Designer; Sally Reid – Associate Director.
Touring Scotland from 02 October to 07 November 2026.
Previews and opening at The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh before touring to The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen and Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
Opening performance at The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh on 9 October 2026
National Theatre of Scotland, in partnership with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh and in association with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, is bringing one of Scotland’s most iconic and enduring Scottish literary characters to the stage, in a brand-new production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
This production will mark 60 years since the premiere of the original stage version.
Adapted for the stage by acclaimed Scottish playwright David Harrower from Muriel Spark’s much-loved novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is directed by Vicky Featherstone andfeatures Gayle Rankin making her National Theatre of Scotland debut as the charismatic Jean Brodie. Making up the Brodie set are Liberty Black as Mary Macgregor, Sophie Fortune as Joyce Emily, Tallulah Greive as Monica Douglas, Shreya Khaund Marshall as Jenny Gray, and Bobby Rainsbury as Sandy Stranger. They are joined by Maureen Beattie as Miss Mackay, Brian Ferguson as Gordon Lowther and Dyfan Dwyfor as Teddy Lloyd.
‘Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.’
At the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, junior-school teacher Miss Jean Brodie is, famously, in her prime.
Each year, Brodie selects her ‘set’. The crème de la crème of girls whom she will shape through art and politics, stories of sexual liberation and titillating glimpses of the women they could become. In return, she demands utter loyalty from them all.
Witty, seductive and swirling in contradictions, Brodie’s mythical ability to invent her own truths and manipulate her girls ultimately leads her to risk everything.
This adaptation by David Harrower is a new version commissioned by National Theatre of Scotland, developed and updated from the original play which was presented at the Donmar Warehouse, London in 2018.
This visceral production takes a head-on look at the enduring moral fascination with such a beguiling and dangerous character.
MEET THE BRODIE SET
Gayle Rankin is Miss Jean Brodie. Gayle Rankin is a Tony Award-nominated Scottish performer well known for her role as Sheila the She-Wolf in the hit Netflix series GLOW and as the mysterious Alys Rivers in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. Gayle recently finished a run on Broadway as Sally Bowles opposite Eddie Redmayne in the award-winning production of Cabaret (Tony nominated).
Other TV credits include The Listeners (BBC) and Perry Mason (HBO). Film includes Alex Garland’s Men, Amazon’s Blow the Man Down, Bad Things and The Greatest Showman, as well as the upcoming film Incomer, which will close the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival. New York theatre credits include Sam Gold’s Hamlet and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Taming of the Shrew.
Maureen Beattie is Miss MacKay, the headmistress of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. Maureen Beattie previously worked with National Theatre of Scotland in Yer Granny, 27, The Enquirer and Inteference. Other stage credits include extensive Shakespeare productions, including many at the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre of GB, and is appearing as Lear in King Lear at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this summer. Other stage credits include Escape Alone, Death of a Salesman (The Royal Exchange, Manchester), The Scent of Roses, The Cherry Orchard (Royal Lyceum Theatre), Yerma (Young Vic/Park Avenue Armory), Noises Off (Old Vic), Daisy Pulls It Off, My Fair Lady and The Ferryman on the West End. Television credits include Outlander (Starz), Fear (Prime Video) and Playing Nice (ITV). Her film credits most recently include Sunlight (ODIN Productions).
Liberty Black as Mary Macgregor, one of Brodie’s girls. Liberty graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2025 and made her professional stage debut in National Theatre of Scotland and Lepus Production’s KELI. Television credits include the upcoming legal drama Counsels (BBC Scotland) and The Doghouse (Hat Trick Productions/BBC).
Dyfan Dwyfor is Teddy Lloyd, the art master at Marcia Blaine. He most recently appeared on Scottish stages in The Seagull at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. Other recent stage credits include Nye (National Theatre), The Man in the Submarine (Perth Theatre), Life is a Dream (Royal Lyceum Theatre) and The Twilight Zone (Almeida West End). Screen credits include Pride (Pathe), The Passing (Severn Screen), Outlander (Starz), A Very English Scandal and Reputation (BBC).
Brian Ferguson is Gordon Lowther, the singing master at Marcia Blaine. In 2024, Brian appeared in the BBC reboot of Ian Rankin’s Rebus in the BBC reboot as Michael Rebus, with his performance being nominated for Best Actor at the RTS Scotland Awards. Other television credits include The Ipcress File, The Dark (ITV), Department Q (Netflix), The Spanish Princess (Channel 4/Starz), Elizabeth is Missing and Shetland (BBC). He most recently worked with National Theatre of Scotland in Cyrano de Bergerac (with Citizens Theatre and Royal Lyceum Theatre). His previous NTS credits include Anything That Gives Off Light, Black Watch, Rupture and Snuff. Other theatre credits include White Nights (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), A Number (Royal Lyceum Theatre), Oil (Almedia Theatre), Hamlet (Citizens Theatre), Earthquakes in London (National Theatre), The Dark Things, The Guard (Traverse Theatre), The Drawer Boy and The Trials (Tron Theatre).
Sophie Fortune as Joyce Emily, a pupil at Marcia Blaine. Sophie trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and was most recently seen on stage in Inexperience (Pitlochry Festival Theatre). Previous theatre credits include Between the Lines (Glasgow Museum of Modern Art), Let the Right One In, That Hopey Changey Thing and The Cherry Orchard (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and The Multiverse is Gay and Seven Against Edinburgh (Lyceum Young Company).
Tallulah Greive as Monica Douglas, one of Brodie’s girls. Tallulah played Orla the feature film Our Ladies, and was longlisted for the Breakthrough Performance category at the British Independent Film Awards in 2021. She most recently appeared on Scottish stages at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in The Seagull, and Anna Karenina (co-produced with Bristol Old Vic). Other stage credits include Coram Boy (Chichester Festival Theatre/Lowry). Other screen roles include Boarders (BBC/Studio Lambert), My Lady Jane (Amazon Prime) and Cinderella (Sony).
Shreya Khaund Marshall as Jenny Gray, one of Brodie’s girls. Shreya is a third year acting student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. This is her professional stage debut.
Bobby Rainsbury as Sandy Stranger, one of Brodie’s girls and her special confidante. Bobby is best known for her role as Maura Grant in the Outlander spinoff, Blood of my Blood. Her other screen credits include upcoming feature film Hillside Drive (Element Pictures) and Sam Mendes Beatles film (Neal Street Productions), The Witcher, Department Q, The Crown (Netflix), Summerwater (Channel 4), The Death of Bunny Munro (Sky), Karen Pirie (ITV), Vigil, Holby City and Call the Midwife (BBC). This is her professional stage debut.
“The crème de la crème of Brodie adaptations”
The Theatre Times on The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar Warehouse, 2018
This is the first time that David Harrower’s adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie has been performed in Scotland, having been originally staged at the Donmar Warehouse in 2018 to critical acclaim. In the Sparkian spirit of reinvention, the 2018 script has been revisited and updated for this National Theatre of Scotland 2026 production.
The original 1966 London stage adaptation was by Jay Presson Allen (Marnie, Cabaret). Scottish productions include Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 1985 and 2009 and at The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in 2003. Gayle Rankin played one of the schoolgirls in The Lyceum production and this 2026 production marks her homecoming to Scotland’s stages.
Vicky Featherstone, director, said: “As we hurtle towards the first day of rehearsal for The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, I am so excited to be working with this incredible group of actors and creatives, led by Gayle Rankin, and with a spicy new version by David Harrower which seeks to honour everything that Spark gave us while creating something which feels urgent, surprising and fresh.
“We are all looking forward to bringing all the thrilling complexity that is Brodie to life once again for Scottish audiences.”
David Harrower is an Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Plays include Blackbird (Olivier Award for Best New Play and Tony nominated), Knives in Hens, Kill the Old, Torture Their Young (Traverse Theatre), Six Characters in Search of an Author, 365, Calum’s Road (National Theatre of Scotland).Film & TV work includes Una, Outlaw King, Lockerbie: A Search for the Truth and the forthcoming The Day of the Jackal Season 2.
Vicky Featherstone was the founding Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland, and she returns to direct The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with the company, following a decade as Artistic Director of London’s Royal Court Theatre. Theatre credits include: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Enquirer (National Theatre of Scotland); Shoe Lady, The Glow (Royal Court); The Outrun (Royal Lyceum Theatre for Edinburgh International Festival 2024). Her production of Krapp’s Last Tape with Stephen Rea recently played in NYC following an earlier presentation at Barbican, London and Pavilion Theatre, Dublin in 2025.
Born in Edinburgh in 1918, Muriel Spark wrote 22 novels including The Driver’s Seat, Memento Mori and The Girls of Slender Means with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie being the best known of her works. First published in the New Yorker and reissued in volume form in 1961, the novel is set in Edinburgh in 1936 with the central character based in part on a teacher at Muriel Spark’s Edinburgh school, James Gillespie’s School for Girls. The novel was subsequently adapted for stage, film and television.
Full cast and creative biogs available here.
Rankin on Rankin
The poster image for this new production was shot by renowned photographer Rankin, captured at his studio in London. The photos were released on 1 February to mark the birthday of Muriel Spark.
Gayle Rankin said: “Working with the legendary photographer Rankin was an incredible experience.
“His deep curiosity as an artist, alongside Vicky Featherstone and me, helped crack open the earliest beginnings of our Jean Brodie—approaching her not just as an icon, a myth or character, but as a real woman for our time.
“We were thrilled to start this journey with Rankin’s lens on her.”
Rankin is a British photographer, publisher, and film director.
Best known for work that is on the cultural cusp and leading future trends, he has produced rule-breaking campaigns for brands such as Rolls Royce, Unilever, L’Oreal, Lego, and Samsonite; creating wide reaching projects for charities including Women’s Aid and Macmillan; and shooting music videos for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora and Kelis.
As a photographer Rankin’s portfolio ranges from portraiture to documentary. He has shot The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and Zendaya to name only a few. In 2023 Rankin photographed King Charles III to mark the monarch’s 75th Birthday for The Big Issue magazine.
As a publisher, Rankin co-founded the seminal magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1990 and has since published the likes of AnOther and AnOther Man, alongside over 40 books, and the fashion and culture publication Hunger.
His photography has been published everywhere from his own publications to Elle, Vogue, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, and Wonderland, and exhibited in galleries globally, including MoMA, New York, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Rankin said: “It was a thrill and a privilege to be invited to capture the extraordinary Gayle Rankin in the iconic role of the dangerous but alluring Jean Brodie.
“Her power as an actor brought an electric theatricality to the shoot as can be seen in the final images. It was fantastic to collaborate with the National Theatre of Scotland on this production, which I hope I can get to see later this year.”
The Next Stage
The Next Stage is an ambitious new pilot project, inviting young people to create and present their own original performances on the set of a major National Theatre of Scotland production.
In its first iteration, pupils from Aberdeen Grammar School will respond to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, devising bold new performance pieces that will be shared with an invited audience of teachers, peers and family members on Chloe Lamford’s set, at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen in October 2026.
Touring to The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (Previews Fri 2, Mon 5-Thu 8 October) Fri 9 October to Sun 18 October; The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow Wed21October to Sat 24 October; His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen Thu29 October to Sat 31 October; Pitlochry Festival Theatre Wed 4 November to Sat 7 November 2026.
Full information and ticket info here.
