Sacha Baron Cohen lined up for Quentin Tarantino’s West End playwriting debut

He will soon be seen resuming his old Staines rudeboy persona in the film Ali G: Who Iz I?, but Sacha Baron Cohen may also be eyeing a new departure – on stage.The actor will reportedly star in Quentin Tarantino’s first play, The Popinjay Cavalier, which is billed as a “rambunctious comedy of deception and disguise” and a “sweeping celebration of theatre and its heightened romance”, set in 1830s Europe. According to Deadline, Baron Cohen will play the swashbuckling title character in the play, which Tarantino will also direct.The Popinjay Cavalier, presented by Sonia Friedman Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment, was announced in March and has a planned opening date of early 2027, in a West End theatre yet to be confirmed. Tarantino, who now lives in Tel Aviv, said last year that he would move to England with his family to work on the play and that it would take up between 18 and 24 months of his life.Quentin Tarantino in 2023. Photograph: Jacopo M Raule/Getty Images for Belles Rives GroupIn July, Friedman told the Sunday Times that Tarantino was “very theatre literate”, and that “the most refreshing thing about him, which not all writers and directors have, is his interest in the audience experience. He wants the audience to have the best freaking night out in the theatre they’ve had all year.”Baron Cohen, who took his successful TV characters such as Ali G and Borat from the small to the big screen with huge success, has not yet had a leading role in a major stage production. He trained with the French clown guru Philippe Gaulier. When Gaulier died earlier this year, the actor told the Guardian: “If I hadn’t crossed paths with him, I’d probably be doing something terribly sensible. Instead, I chose comedy – entirely because he believed in me, pushed me, and armed me with techniques that still get me into trouble.”Tarantino cast Baron Cohen in a small role in his 2012 western Django Unchained but the actor later said that he withdrew from the production in order to star in Tom Hooper’s film version of Les Misérables, based on the long-running West End musical.Ali G: Who Iz I? is released next month. Publicists for Baron Cohen and The Popinjay Cavalier did not confirm the casting when contacted.