I sat in a cramped seat at the House of the Redeemer earlier this year, watching Jesse Tyler Ferguson transform before my eyes. One minute he was the familiar, slightly awkward Mitchell Pritchett I had laughed at for years. The next he was Truman Capote, voice pitched just so, shoulders hunched with the particular mix of bravado and fragility that marked the writer's later years. It was unsettling how completely he disappeared into the role. Now that same intimate production is crossing the Atlantic.
Ferguson will star in Jay Presson Allen's Tru at the Menier Chocolate Factory, with previews beginning 19 September and the show running until 14 November. Rob Ashford directs. The piece, first staged in 1989, draws entirely from Capote's own writings. It places us in his New York apartment in December 1975, as he grapples with the fallout from a scandal that shredded his social standing. No added lectures. No contemporary spin. Just the man, his words, and the consequences of his choices.
The production sold out its 58 performances in New York, recouping its investment and leaving audiences quietly stunned. Ferguson originated the role in that revival at the Upper East Side mansion, an unlikely but fitting venue for such a claustrophobic portrait. The transfer to London feels less like commercial opportunism and more like the natural extension of something that worked because it trusted the material.
I keep thinking about what drew me to that New York performance. Capote's wit is razor sharp, his observations often cruel, yet the play never lets you forget the cost. There is humour, yes, but also a profound loneliness that Ferguson apparently captures without sentimentality. Rob Ashford, who first directed him in a one-night charity reading in Tangier in 2024, called the actor mesmerising. "He captured the truth of the man, his humour and heartbreak," Ashford said in the official announcement. "I am thrilled that we get the opportunity to further explore this great pairing of actor and character in London."
Ferguson himself sounded genuinely moved when he spoke about the New York run. "I am thrilled to bring this intimate production of Tru to the Menier following its successful New York run," he explained. "The audience response to this unique theatrical experience, and the chance to encounter Truman Capote up close, was incredibly rewarding. I am delighted that Rob Ashford and I now have the opportunity to share what we have created with London audiences."
Paul Farnsworth designs the production, which is presented by the Menier in association with several producers including Seaview and OHenry Productions. The creative team seems focused on letting the writing breathe. No grand statements about representation or relevance. Just rigorous character work rooted in the writer's own language. In an era when much theatre strains to signal its virtue, there is something quietly radical about staging a play that asks audiences to sit with Capote's contradictions, his brilliance and his self-destruction, without editorialising.
