The Popinjay Cavalier

Set in 1830s Europe, the play is a rambunctious comedy of deception and disguise inspired by the grand swashbuckling epics of stage and screen.^[1]

In April 1998, Quentin Tarantino starred in the Broadway revival of Wait Until Dark, which premiered at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.^[2] In April 2014, Tarantino held a staged reading of a leaked early draft of The Hateful Eight (2015) at Los Angeles County Museum of Art's theatre at Ace Hotel.^[3][4][5] In January 2016, he previously had plans to adapt The Hateful Eight into a stage play.^[6] In June 2021, he said he wrote a stage play adaptation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), months after he wrote the first draft of the film.^[7] According to Tarantino, if developed, the production would have debuted in a West End theatre.^[8] In July 2021, he said that he had plans to remake his film Reservoir Dogs (1992) as a stage play.^[9] In June 2023, Tarantino Live, a staged mashup of various characters, scenes, and soundtracks from Tarantino's films, debuted at Riverside Studios in London.^[10][11]

In January 2025, Tarantino announced he was writing a stage play.^[12] In August 2025, he said he would be moving to London to begin production on the stage play in January 2026.^[13] In March 2026, the play was titled The Popinjay Cavalier, with Sonia Friedman Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment as the production companies; the latter company having produced Tarantino's previous film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.^[10] The play is described as a "swashbuckling comedy" set in 1830s Europe.^[14] The production is set to open in a West End theatre in January 2027.^[15][16]

In August 2025, Tarantino announced that if the stage production was well-received, he could adapt it into his tenth and final film.^[17] In March 2026, he said that if The Popinjay Cavalier became successful in the West End theatre, he would launch a worldwide tour of it.^[10]