Today is Stranger Things Day, the day fans of the Netflix juggernaut celebrate the night everything changes for the townsfolk of Hawkins. With production yet to begin on the fifth and final season, the streamer has instead turned its attention to another project. The upcoming West End theatre production Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Kicking off today’s celebrations is a behind-the-scenes look at bringing the play to life. Watch the full video in the player below:
Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.
Directed by Stephen Daldry, with co-direction by Justin Martin, leading the world class award-winning creative team, the cast is Shane Attwooll (Chief Hopper), Kemi Awoderu (Sue Anderson), Chase Brown (Lonnie Byers), Christopher Buckley (Bob Newby), AmmarDuffus (Charles Sinclair), Gilles Geary (Ted Wheeler), Florence Guy (Karen Childress), Max Harwood (Allen Munson), Michael Jibson(Victor Creel), Oscar Lloyd (James Hopper, Jr.), Louis McCartney (Henry Creel), Isabella Pappas (Joyce Maldonado), MatthewPidgeon (Father Newby), Calum Ross (Walter Henderson), Maisie Norma Seaton (Claudia Henderson), Patrick Vaill (Dr. Brenner),Lauren Ward (Virginia Creel), Ella Karuna Williams (Patty Newby); with Tricia Adele-Turner, Lauren Arney, Reya-Nyomi Brown, Patricia Castro, Lydia Fraser, Isaac Gryn, Mark Hammersley, Tom Peters, Kingdom Sibanda, Tiana Simone, Danny Sykes and Meesha Turner.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is written by Kate Trefry, directed by Stephen Daldry with co-director Justin Martin, set design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Paul Arditti, illusions design & visual effects by Jamie Harrison & Chris Fisher, video design & visual effects by 59 Productions, original music & arrangements by D.J. Walde, choreography by Coral Messam, movement direction by Lynne Page, wigs, hair and make-up design byCampbell Young Associates, technical director is Gary Beestone for Gary Beestone Associates, props supervision by Mary Halliday, dialect by William Conacher, fight direction by Kev McCurdy, casting by Jessica Ronane Casting CDG with additional casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG, and international casting consultancy by Jim Carnahan.