Matthew Tennyson and Richard Cant Lead Cast in World Premiere of Sanctuary at Edinburgh Fringe
Award-winning actors Matthew Tennyson and Richard Cant will star in the world premiere of Sanctuary, the debut play by Jacob Sparrow and winner of the inaugural Leodis Prize. Directed by Josh Seymour, the reflective and time-shifting drama is inspired by real events in a Suffolk village, where plans to open an AIDS hospice in the early 1990s were met with local resistance. Sanctuary explores memory, belonging and community as past and present intertwine when one man is forced to confront memories he has long suppressed.
Matthew Tennyson won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his performance inMaking Noise Quietlyat the Donmar Warehouse. His extensive stage credits includeSalomefor the Royal Shakespeare Company,The Pillowmanat the Duke of York’s Theatre, King Learat the Almeida Theatre andThe Invention of Loveat Hampstead Theatre. His screen credits includePride,The Hollow CrownandBorgia.
Richard Cant is one of Britain’s most respected stage and screen actors. His theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest,War HorseandThe Normal Heartat the National Theatre, alongsideHamletandHenry VIfor the Royal Shakespeare Company andMedeaat the Almeida Theatre. His television credits includeThe Crown, It’s A SinandMapp & Lucia.
The production is directed by Josh Seymour, who spent five years as Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse. His recent directing credits includeA Streetcar Named Desireat Sheffield Crucible,We Had A Worldat Hampstead Theatre andSpend Spend Spendat the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Winner of the inaugural Leodis Prize,Sanctuarymarks Jacob Sparrow’s professional playwriting debut. The Leodis Prize underscores the continuing importance of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a space for discovery and innovation, and as a platform for the next generation of theatre-makers. Playwright Jacob Sparrow was part of the Emerging Writers Group at the Royal Court in 2025. Sanctuarymarks his debut play. Set almost entirely within a single house where past and present coexist,Sanctuaryis a deeply human story about safety, identity and hope, examining the legacy of shame and the absence of a clear blueprint for queer lives.
Main image courtesy of Andrew Perry
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