Idris Elba, Little Simz, and Danai Gurira have joined the producing team for the North American premiere of “Shifters,” the acclaimed play by Olivier Award-nominated writer Benedict Lombe, set to open at A24’s Cherry Lane Theatre in New York this summer. The news also comes as the play is in the early stages of a television adaptation at Channel 4.
The Off-Broadway run arrives on the heels of sold-out productions at London’s Bush Theatre and the West End’s Duke of York’s Theatre. Previews begin July 6, with opening night set for July 15 and the production running through Aug. 30.
The love story follows Dre and Des, two gifted Black young adults on the precipice of change. He stayed. She left. Years later, they come crashing back into each other’s lives carrying new secrets and old scars, caught between memory and reality as they navigate the shifting borders that threaten to rewrite their past and reshape their future. Heather Agyepong, reprising her role as Des from the original Bush Theatre and West End productions, and Daniel Ezra, stepping in as Dre, lead the Cherry Lane cast.
“Seeing the profound impact ‘Shifters’ had on London audiences was a reminder of how universal this story truly is,” Elba said. “Benedict Lombe has crafted a masterpiece of modern romance, and I am proud to see it cross the Atlantic. Bringing this play to the historic Cherry Lane Theatre is a milestone moment for Black British storytelling in New York.”
Gurira, a Zimbabwean-American playwright herself, echoed the sentiment. “Shifters is a beautiful and complex exploration of Black love. How rarely do we get to see Black love stories. It is a gem, and I hope it will propel more stories from across the Black Diaspora to be told on global platforms.”
The production is directed by BAFTA-nominated and Evening Standard Theatre Award winner Lynette Linton. Elba, Little Simz, and Gurira join Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Chuchu Nwagu Productions, in association with Sonia Friedman Productions.
On the television front, Channel 4 and See-Saw Films, the production company behind “Slow Horses” and “Heartstopper,” are developing a TV adaptation of the play. Lombe will adapt her own work for the screen, marking her first foray into television. The project is currently in development and has not yet been greenlit. The TV version is expected to be more expansive than the two-person stage production, tracking the characters’ lives across a broader timeline. It has not yet been confirmed whether the stage cast will reprise their roles.
Lombe made history as the first Black British woman to receive an Olivier Award nomination in the Best New Play category and only the third to have a production on the West End. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in the UK, she won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2022 for her debut play “Lava.”