Sly stage version of The Traitors to lure audiences with five different endings

In keeping with its well-earned reputation for cloak and dagger, the stage adaptation of the hit gameshow Traitors will present audiences with different renditions of the story depending on which night they attend. The Traitors: Acts of Betrayal will take the form of a five-play cycle, with weekend crowds able to determine which version of the BBC show dramatisation they see. The stage production comes from Studio Lambert, the company behind the TV series, and Neal Street Productions, a company co-founded by Sam Mendes. The studio’s boss, Stephen Lambert, said the stage adaptation would feel like the BBC show, which has been one of British television’s biggest hits in recent years, with the celebrity instalment’s finale pulling in an overnight average audience of more than 11 million. “The show feels quite theatrical anyway,” said Lambert. “The cloaks, burning fires, banishments and murders. It sort of suggested maybe there would be a way of turning it into a play.” Lambert had initially considered a production that took audiences into a fictionalised version of the show, telling the story from the point of view of production staff. But that idea was jettisoned in favour of a more complex interpretation of the show, launched in 2022, that has attracted Gen Z enthusiasm, with 81% of viewers aged between 16 and 24 watching linear TV on the night of the celebrity finale tuning in to see it play out. …