London already has a very entertaining mini version of gameshow of our era The Traitors that you can particpate in: The Traitors Live. But in the summer of 2027 it will be joined by The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal, a lavish new comedy play moving into one of London’s biggest theatres, that will offer a humorous fictional take on an invented season of the show. Not just one take, in fact: penned by comedy writer John Finnemore it’s billed as a cycle of five different plays, each of which begins the same but rapidly diverges as different participants are voted out in each take.
A huge question of ‘what is the exact point in paying a lot of money to see a parody of ashow that you can watch on the BBC for free?’ hangs over the project, as well the spectre of Harry Hill’s flop 2014 X-Factor musical I Can’t Sing! And to be honest we’re not likely to really know the answer to this question until the show opens. We don’t even really know how long it’s intended to run for for: if the idea is just a few months then fair enough.
Still, it’s a pretty serious project, co-produced by Studio Lambert (which makes The Traitors) and heavyweight TV and theatre production company Neal Street. National Theatre deputy Robert Hastie will be directing the production. And comic actor Nick Mohammed is a big name to have lined as the Claudia Winkleman stand in. Plus in all fairness I Can’t Sing a) dropped after X-Factor’s peak b) was pretty funny, while The Traitors shows no signs of slowing down with a 2027 that will incorporate civilian season five and celebrity season three.
