The rise and ruin of Kate Chase — the most powerful American woman you’ve never heard of.

Written by Thomas Klingenstein
Directed by Christopher McElroen

Bridewell Theatre | 9 January – 7 February 2026

Presented by the american vicarious

Internationally acclaimed theatre company the american vicarious returns to London (Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley, Fight for America!) with the UK premiere of Our American Queen — a new play exploring the life and legacy of Kate Chase, one of the most celebrated yet overlooked women of 19th-century America.

When ambition overwhelms conviction.

Set against the 1864 U.S. presidential election, the play follows Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, as he dares to challenge the president for the nation’s highest office. At the centre stands his daughter, Kate Chase — brilliant, ambitious, and hailed by the press as “Our American Queen.” Torn between love and power, Kate must choose between her devotion to Lincoln’s secretary John Hay and a marriage that could secure her father’s political future in a nation on the brink.

At once intimate and sweeping, Our American Queen explores the price of ambition, the fragility of reputation, and the timeless struggle of women to claim power in a world unwilling to grant it.

Date/Time: 09 January - 07 February @ 7.30pm, no performance Sunday or Monday
Tickets: £35
Book online HERE