After four years of creative exile, Olivier Award-nominated playwright Athena Stevens returns to the stage with the world premiere of Diagnosis. This gripping speculative fiction thriller will run for a limited four-week season at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre from Tuesday, 13 May 2025, to Saturday, 7 June 2025. Press nights are scheduled for Thursday, 15 May 2025, and Friday, 16 May 2025, at 7.30pm.
Diagnosis is set in a London police station late at night, where a vulnerable woman with a disability is brought in. The narrative explores whether she is making a confession, a plea, a threat, or if she is simply mad. After years of flying surveillance drones through London’s Underground tunnels, she begins seeing glowing words above people’s heads, predicting their future injuries and diagnoses. When she sees a countdown above a stranger’s head at a bar, ticking down in minutes, she knows she has to act.
Directed by the multi-award-winning Ché Walker and designed by Juliette Demoulin, Diagnosis promises to be a taut and unsettling thriller that asks, “If you knew what was coming, would you be able to change it?”
Athena Stevens, who is also a Playwright in Residence at the Finborough Theatre, stars in the production. The cast includes Stevens, with additional members to be announced. This production coincides with the publication of Stevens’ autobiography, What’s Done Cannot Be Undone, by HarperCollins on 5 June 2025.
Stevens’ previous works at the Finborough Theatre include Scrounger, winner of the OffWestEnd Award for Best New Play, Schism, and Late Night Staring at High Res Pixels. Her acting credits include roles in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at Trafalgar Studios, Redefining Juliet at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Macbeth at RADA.
Director Ché Walker returns to the Finborough Theatre, where he has directed six previous productions, including the sell-out Burnt-Up Love. Walker’s writing credits include Been So Long, Flesh Wound, and Crazy Love. His musical adaptation of Been So Long premiered at The Young Vic and was adapted into a feature film.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
