Giovanna Fletcher to Star in World Stage Premiere of Bestselling Novel & Hit Film

Producer Josh Andrews is delighted to announce that the World Premiere stage production of Before I Go To Sleep – based on the international bestselling novel by S J Watson, which was later adapted into the hit film starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth – will embark on a major UK and Ireland theatre tour from January to June 2027. Tickets are available from BeforeIGoToSleep.com

Starring acclaimed actor, author and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher (The Girl on the Train, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, 2:22 A Ghost Story) as protagonist Christine, this gripping new stage adaptation is written by Rachel Wagstaff and directed by Loveday Ingram – the celebrated creative team behind 2025’s hugely successful stage adaptation of The Girl on the Train.

Giovanna Fletcher said: “I read the international bestselling novel Before I Go To Sleep and was hooked, so I can’t wait to take this play to the stage in 2027 on our UK and Ireland tour. It’s a thrilling, chilling and captivating story that I know audiences will love. I’m also chuffed to be working with Rachel Wagstaff and Loveday Ingram again - the three of us loved working on The Girl On The Train together last year and are very happy to be reunited.”

S J Watson said: "Before I Go To Sleep has lived many lives I never expected — and this feels like one of the most exciting yet. I can't think of a better team to bring Christine's story to the stage.”

This tense and fast-paced psychological thriller will open at Richmond Theatre in January 2027, and then perform at major UK and Ireland theatres through to the end of June. Further casting will be announced. Lighting Design will be by Tony nominee, Jason Taylor.

The gripping production delves into the story of Christine, who appears to have an idyllic life - with one terrible exception. Every night, when she goes to sleep, she loses her memory. Every morning she wakes up remembering nothing from the last 20 years of her life - not even the loving husband lying next to her. As she desperately tries to piece her life back together, hidden and terrifying truths begin to emerge, forcing her to question everything and everyone around her.

Exploring the fragility of memory, identity and trust, Before I Go To Sleep is set to be a thrilling stage production packed with suspense, shocking revelations and edge-of-your-seat twists that will keep audiences gripped until its devastating climax.

Memories lie. People do too.

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP – UK TOUR 2027 is coming to Truro.

About Giovanna Fletcher

Giovanna Fletcher most recently led the UK Tour of international bestselling novel Girl on The Train in the role Rachel Watson, and was previously seen in the West End run and UK tour of the critically acclaimed Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, as Miss Hedge after finishing leading the UK tour of Peter James’s Wish You Were Dead. Other theatrical credits include 2:22 A Ghost Story and Ivanov, both for the West End, as well as A Christmas Carol, Backbeat and The Christmasurus. She’s also appeared in the feature film The Boat That Rocked. 

As well as being an accomplished actress, Giovanna is a hugely successful author, podcast host and Queen of The Castle after winning I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2020. In 2013, Giovanna published her first fiction book, Billy and Me, and 2021 saw her publish her sixth novel Walking On Sunshine. Together with her husband Tom Fletcher, the pair have combined their love of writing to pen a trilogy of Sunday Times best-selling books. Giovanna’s first non-fiction book Happy Mum, Happy Baby was a No.1 bestseller that she later turned into an award-winning podcast with Pixiu, with over 30million listeners. Adding to her non-fiction work in 2020, Giovanna wrote Letters on Motherhood, another bestseller.

Giovanna is a proud patron for Breast Cancer Awareness charity CoppaFeel! and an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and Tommy’s.

About S J Watson

S J Watson's debut novel, Before I Go To Sleep, became a phenomenal international success, selling over six million copies worldwide. It won the Crime Writers' Association Award for Best Debut Novel and the Galaxy National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year, and has been translated into more than 40 languages. The film adaptation, starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong and directed by Rowan Joffe, was released in 2014. His second novel, Second Life, was published to acclaim in 2015, followed by Final Cut in 2020. He is currently at work on new fiction, with two further novels due for publication in 2027.

About Rachel Wagstaff

Rachel wrote the book for Flowers for Mrs Harris which transferred to Chichester Festival Theatre after premiering at the Sheffield Crucible (Best Musical, UK Theatre Awards). The London premiere at Riverside Studios won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Off West End Production. Rachel adapted Sebastian Faulks’s novel, Birdsong, opening in the West End. Her award-winning stage version has had five subsequent UK tours with Original Theatre Company. Rachel adapted The Mirror Crack’d for Agatha Christie Limited (various productions including two UK tours, NCPA, Asolo Rep and The Alley Theatre). Rachel’s musical Moonshadow, co-written with Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), played at the Royal Albert Hall and the Princess Theatre in Melbourne. Rachel also wrote the book for original musical Only The Brave, which opened at the Wales Millennium Centre. With Duncan Abel, Rachel adapted Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (2 UK tours and West End transfer), The Da Vinci Code (UK tour and various international productions), P.D. James’s Death Comes to Pemberley (The Mill at Sonning, followed by a UK tour) and Rebecca Netley’s The Whistling (The Mill at Sonning). Rachel and Duncan have also co-written Room 13, an original ghost play (The Barn, Cirencester). For radio, Rachel adapted Sebastian Faulks’ novel The Girl at the Lion d’Or as a five-part series for Radio 4. Her theatre work is performed internationally, and she currently has multiple screen projects and new plays in development.

About Loveday Ingram

Loveday is a theatre director and adapter whose career includes productions in the West End, for the RSC, regionally throughout the UK, and internationally.

Her recent productions include the UK tour of the internationally bestselling novel The Girl on the Train for Josh Andrews and Simon Friend Entertainment, which originated at Salisbury Playhouse, and a UK tour of Anne-Marie Casey’s adaptation of Little Women for Lee Dean and Daniel Schumann Associates. Her acclaimed production of The Rover for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which she adapted and directed, had a sold-out run at The Swan Theatre and won a UK Theatre Award. As Associate Director at Chichester Festival Theatre, she directed many productions, including the musical My One and Only, with music by George and Ira Gershwin, which transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre and was nominated for the TMA Award for Best Musical and four Olivier Awards; David Hare’s The Blue Room, which transferred to the Theatre Royal Haymarket; and Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey, which transferred to Chichester Festival Theatre after a sell-out run in the Minerva Theatre and was nominated for The Barclay TMA Best Musical award.

She has directed several productions in Ireland, including Terry Johnson’s Hysteria, which won an Irish Times Theatre Award, and David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, which was nominated for two Irish Times Theatre Awards. She recently directed the world premiere of Frank McGuinness’s Dinner With Groucho.

Other productions include the UK tour of Fatal Attraction for Ambassador Theatre Group; the international tour of Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville, also with ATG, which opened at Liverpool Playhouse and played at the National Theatre of China in Beijing; Samuel Beckett’s Rockaby at the Barbican and the Gate Theatre Dublin as part of the Beckett Centenary Festival; Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce at the Noël Coward Theatre; an international and UK tour of The Merchant of Venice for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Brian Friel’s Three Sisters; Terry Johnson’s Insignificance and Dead Funny at Chichester Festival Theatre; as well as the UK premiere of Samuel Barber’s opera Vanessa at the Lyric Hammersmith and, in her own adaptation, All About Love at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio.