Sacha Baron Cohen is Quentin Tarantino's West End Leading Man

Quentin Tarantino, taking a break from being weird on podcasts and hanging out with the IDF, is about to make his West End debut. The director had written his first play, which is set to premiere next February. It’s called, and I’m not joking here, The Popinjay Cavalier. And his leading man? Sacha Baron Cohen. What a pairing. It’s like kryptonite for women.

Here’s the blurb, from the play’s official website:

Set in 1830s Europe, this rambunctious tale of deception and disguise is Tarantino’s first-ever play, inspired by the grand adventure epics and sparkling romances of stage and screen, including the works of Hollywood’s golden greats - George Bruce, Ernest Vajda and Jesse Lasky Jr.

Follow Rupert Sebastian Thomas Jr., the world’s greatest actor, as he heads to Paris to perform for the illustrious Comédie-Française. But after a few ill-advised words about the French land him in hot water, Rupert the Magnificent’s triumphant trip across the Channel takes a decidedly more dangerous turn…

Expect Tarantino’s signature style and rapier wit in a sweeping celebration of theatre, complete with acrobatics, swordplay, daring deeds, dastardly acts and an incredible cast whose virtues put the very saints to shame.

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That seems very much up Tarantino’s alley, given his love of classic cinema and recycling and reinventing its tropes. He’s certainly a very stylised writer, which could lend itself well to the stage, but he’s also a son of cinema. His work lives and dies on camera. Can he switch up his directorial style for a whole new medium? Many filmmakers have pulled it off, from Bergman to Herzog.

This is also Cohen’s professional stage debut. It makes a change from his usual stuff, although he’s noticeably tried to move into more serious fare of late (shout out to the six of us who watched the awful Disclaimer), as long as you don’t count Ladies First. Before he treads the boards, Cohen’s got another Ali G movie to promote, because we were all asking for that in 2026.

I’m sure this play will do gangbusters in sales, at least for the first few weeks. Tarantino is a major name, albeit not in this medium, and modern mainstream theatre is largely defined by recognisable faces and/or material. Will it be good? Not gonna lie, that combination of talent is not a big attraction for me these days, even though I like many of Tarantino’s films. Should we take bets now on how many times the N word will be in the script?