Trevor Nunn and Janie Dee Together for the World Premiere of ‘Speculations’: The Political Thriller About Journalist Dorothy Kilgallen

London’s Marylebone Theatre will host the world premiere of “Speculations,” the new play by playwright Torben Betts, directed by the legendary theater and film director Trevor Nunn and starring Olivier Award winner Janie Dee as the famous American journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, as BroadwayWorld reports. The production runs from October 30, 2026 to January 3, 2027, with the official press night on November 4.

The full cast was announced today: alongside Janie Dee, the stage will feature Jolyon Coy as Bobby, Natalie Dunn as Norma Jean, Gloria Obianyo as Flo, Joseph Potter as Lee and Ferdy Roberts as Carlos. Scenography is by Lee Newby, lighting by Johanna Town and sound by Gregory Clarke.

The play is set in 1965 New York. Journalist and television star Dorothy Kilgallen is on the trail of the biggest story of her career: three deaths that shook America — Marilyn Monroe found dead in Los Angeles in 1962, President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas in 1963, and his suspected killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, shot dead live on television. America’s questions were answered. Dorothy was not convinced. From her trail, from Hollywood to the White House, from the Kennedy dynasty to the New Orleans underworld, connections emerge that others have missed — with names like Robert Kennedy, Jack Ruby, organized-crime boss Carlos Marcello, Marilyn Monroe, Oswald and JFK himself.

Mixing Hollywood glamour, political intrigue and true-crime mystery, “Speculations” dives behind the shadows of some of the twentieth century’s most notorious deaths and poses a provocative question: “how far would you go for the truth?”

“Throughout my professional career I have been intrigued by the contradictions surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy and the death of Marilyn Monroe. Now, with excitement, I have the opportunity to investigate those shocking events by directing a new play by Torben Betts called Speculations,” said Trevor Nunn. “An important American journalist, Dorothy Kilgallen, was fascinated by those contradictions, and it is precisely her speculations, played by Janie Dee, that we follow in this tense drama.”

Playwright Torben Betts, known for “Murder in the Dark,” said he never believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the JFK assassination and that the circumstances of Marilyn Monroe’s death always seemed deeply suspicious to him. “Since I discovered Dorothy Kilgallen and the way her investigation began to reveal possible links between these seemingly separate deaths, I have been convinced that hers is a story that must be told — and I want to do my part as a playwright to give voice back to a brave woman who, I believe, was silenced.”

Alexander Gifford, artistic director of Marylebone Theatre, said the theater is becoming “the new home of quality drama in London” and that “Speculations” will be a “worthy successor” to the theater’s recent successful productions.