Esteemed playwright Jez Butterworth is coming back to the boards next year with a new offering.

The Hills of California, a new family drama, will play the West End's Harold Pinter Theatre beginning January 27, 2024 and continuing through June 15. The piece will reunite Butterworth with director Sam Mendes, with whom he worked on the award-winning West End and Broadway engagements of The Ferryman.

Set in 1976's Blackpool, The Hills of California takes place in the driest summer in 200 years, with beaches and hotels packed to capacity. Far from the tourist thoroughfares, the Webb Sisters cram into the guest house of their former home as their mother lies dying. Casting is to be announced.

In addition to Mendes, the creative team will include designer Rob Howell, lighting designer Natasha Chivers, sound designer, composer, and arranger Nick Powell, choreographer Ellen Kane, musical supervisor and arranger Candida Caldicot, casting director Amy Ball, young person’s casting director Verity Naughton, and associate director Zoé Ford Burnett. 

The piece is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street, who will offer 1,000 tickets at £10 to NHS staff and key workers, those who are in receipt of government benefits, educational groups, community organisations, and those who currently access food banks.

For more information, visit HillsOfCaliforniaPlay.com.