Neo-Westerns are coming to the stage, as Brokeback Mountain gets the theatre treatment in London’s West End. Based on the heart wrenching short story by Annie Proulx, BAFTA nominee Mike Faist and Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges will play Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar respectively, two Wyoming cowboys who just can’t quit each other. 

The play will premiere at Sohoplace Theatre in the West End for a 12-week run, starting on May 10. Oh, and an added bonus, we might catch these cowboys belt out a tune or two, as this West End adaptation will have music too. Singer-songwriter Eddi Reader will perform onstage, along with a country western band, to bring plenty of musical melancholy.

Faist and Hedges’ rendition of Brokeback Mountain will certainly bring the waterworks, as did the 1997 New Yorker short story that it’s based on. That same short story gave life to a critically acclaimed film of the same name by Ang Lee (who won the Oscar for Best Director) and gave Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger (both nominated for Oscars for their roles) one of their most iconic films. 

Now, this short story is coming to the West End stage. The stage adaptation will be written by Ashley Robinson and Jonathan Butterell, who brought Everybody’s Talking About Jamie to the stage and screen, will direct. Brokeback Mountain will premiere at Sohoplace Theatre on May 1.