Theatre by the Lake has announced the cast for the world premiere of The Farmer’s Wife, a new play by award-winning playwright Hannah Khalil inspired by Helen Rebanks’ Sunday Times bestselling memoir.
Running from 18 September to 10 October 2026, the production will feature West Cumbrian actress and writer Christine Entwisle, television favourite Roberta Kerr, and fellow Cumbrian actor and writer Eireann Devlin.
Directed by Theatre by the Lake’s Artistic Director and joint CEO Liz Stevenson, The Farmer’s Wife follows three generations of women across a single day on a working Cumbrian family farm. Staged in the round, the production explores family, resilience and the realities of modern rural life through the experiences of women rooted in the landscape.
The all-female-led creative team has developed the play using the real voices and experiences of women from the local farming community, creating what Theatre by the Lake describes as a funny, raw and deeply human drama.
Helen Rebanks said: “Having my story inspire an entirely new play at Theatre by the Lake is both thrilling and humbling. Hannah Khalil is an extraordinary playwright — she has taken my experiences, and those of other farming women, and shaped them into something with real emotional depth and a genuine sensitivity to the lives it portrays.
“Liz Stevenson, Theatre by the Lake’s Artistic Director, has been wonderful throughout, truly listening to both my ideas and my initial apprehensiveness, which has meant everything. This feels like more than a play to me. It is a chance to bring a rural voice to the stage; the voice of farming women, so often overlooked or left unheard at a time when agriculture is facing some of its greatest challenges in living memory. I hope we do the farming community proud.”
The production marks a return to the Rebanks family’s storytelling for Theatre by the Lake, which premiered A Shepherd’s Life, based on the memoir by Helen’s husband James Rebanks, a decade ago.
Liz Stevenson said: “The Farmer’s Wife is a vital new play speaking directly to the labour and resilience of rural women, shining a light on stories so often left untold. Hannah Khalil captures the emotional truth and complexity of their experiences in a changing world with enormous warmth, honesty, and compassion. Our production brings this story to life through a highly stylised staging that evokes the essence of the landscape. It promises to be a deeply atmospheric experience, a theatrical love letter to the raw beauty of the Lake District fells.”
Hannah Khalil added: “I’ve had a love affair with the Lakes since my early adulthood and have dreamed of making a play for Theatre by The Lake. So it’s my absolute honour to have had the opportunity to write this play celebrating the hidden labour of women in farming, like my grandmothers, inspired by Helen’s honest memoir.”
Alongside the production, audiences will be able to visit Amy Bateman’s Forty Farms exhibition, a photographic project documenting the lives and landscapes of farmers across Cumbria and the Lake District. The exhibition will be on display throughout the run.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
