Cate Blanchett, Sandra Oh and Letitia Wright lead the National Theatre’s new 2026 season

The National Theatre has been under new management since the autumn, when Indhu Rubasingham’s tenure as artistic director officially began. And she’s made a very decent start, but with the exception of the imminent production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses starring Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner, there’s maybe the sense that her first six months in charge have been a little light on the old celebrity front.

Well that all changes today, as the NT announces the entirety of its 2026 programming. 

The biggest name is Cate Blanchett, who returns to the National Theatre seven years after starring in the somewhat ‘difficult’ sadomasochism drama When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, which was staged in the smaller Dorfman Theatre. While Aussie auteur Benedict Andrews’ new mash up of Sophocles’ Electra and Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film classic Persona isn’t necessarily going to be a nakedly commercial romp, it probably will be by the standards of WWHSTEO, and it’ll be staged in the much bigger Lyttelton Theatre. Re-uniting Blanchett with her Tár co-star Nina Hoss, Electra/Persona doesn’t yet have finalised dates but we’re told it will commence its run in August. It’ll also have a fancy new score from Oscar-winner Hildur Guðnadóttir.

Before that, the great Sandra Oh will make her UK stage debut in a Rubasingham-directed production of Molière’s timeless comedy The Misanthrope (Jun 16-Aug 1, Lyttelton Theatre), with the great playwright Martin Crimp updating his superb 1996 adaptation. Paul Chahidi and Abigail Cruttenden will co-star.

In a busy summer, Black Panther star Letitia Wright will make her NT debut in The Story (Aug 27-Oct 24), Tracey Scott Wilson’s thrilling newsroom drama, which will be directed by Clint Dyer, the National’s former deputy artistic director.

That’s it for big names, though bear in mind the rest of the season isn’t entirely cast yet. But we do know what the plays are!

Having been on near permanent tour since it wrapped up its West End run in 2016, National Theatre classic War Horse (May 16-Jul 30) will be returning to the Olivier stage for the first time in almost 20 years.

Toward the end of the year there will be a major, Dominic Cooke-directed revival for Caryl Churchill’s early masterpiece Cloud 9 in the Lyttelton, and a big new stage adaptation of The Jungle Book by Anupama Chandrasekhar in the Olivier – neither have confirmed dates but expect them to run in the late autumn/Christmas slots.

There’s also a busy season of work in the more intimate Dorfman Theatre. Following the previously announced summer run for the musical Pride, there will be a very limited run for Portuguese director-playwright Tiago Rodrigues’ heavily political play Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists (Sep 19-26).

Next up there’ll be a Robert Hastie-directed revival for the classic Jim Cartwright play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (exact dates TBC), with major rising stage star Francesca Mills in the title role. And finally there will be a new play from Helen Edmundson – we don’t know much about it (including when it’ll run), but it’s called Some Women. And it’ll be followed by a new Arab Spring drama from Carmen Nasr called Samira – again, dates TBC. And that’s 2026 at the National Theatre!

Tickets for The Misanthrope, War Horse and The Story will go on general sale Thu Feb 12 at 10am. All other shows will go on sale later in the year.

The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2026. 

Shakespeare’s Globe has announced its 2026 summer season.