What if James Bond was gay? New London comedy play takes on the battle to cast 007

A new play in London takes a comedic look at the high stakes casting of the new James Bond, bringing laughs to the biggest reveal in Hollywood.

The main character, Deborah, is a fictionalised version of veteran Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, though as the play's star, Tanya Franks, points out, "We're absolutely not allowed to say that!"

Deborah is about to unveil her perfect pick, a new 007 to reinvigorate the franchise, when her future star is hit by a career-ending scandal and the hashtags #DrNoConsent and #Moonraper start to trend.

She and her co-producer cousin Malcolm (Philip Bretherton) and "mediocre nepo baby" son Quinn (Harry Goodson-Bevan) must scramble to find a replacement who will please both the focus groups and the financiers. But how does the white, philandering misogynistic killer of Ian Fleming's novels fit into today's world?

Her son finds Theo (Obioma Ugoala), a Black actor who seems like a great fit for the world's most famous spy. But he is gay, and wants to bring his fiancé to events. Deborah must choose between the slick, suited formula the world knows, or another, more progressive version of the global icon.

"The spectrum of casting has changed dramatically, fantastically so, and for the absolute right reasons. So I think this is a product where we can say, has it been left behind? And that's exactly the questions that we throw up," Franks told AP.

"And certainly there are many social issues and issues within the casting environment that do certainly get debated in this to a certain extent, but in a very comic fashion."

The last James Bond movie - and the final one for Daniel Craig - No Time to Die, was released in fall 2021, and the real-life producers of the franchise have not announced his replacement.

"It becomes perhaps curiously this sort of referendum on British identity - you know, what is it to be British now, what is it to be a spy now, to want to serve your country. And I think that's the interesting thing," said Ugoala.

"I think it could be anybody. And I think that I'd be really interested in perhaps like a South Asian actor as a Bond. I think it's more than sort of black and white. I think British identity is so much more than that," he added.

'A Role To Die For' written by Jordan Waller and directed by Olivier Award winner Derek Bond (no relation), runs at Marylebone Theatre in London until 30 August.