The best theatre shows in London for 2025 not to miss

What is it? Less than a year after making his Doctor Who-era stage return in the NT’s sublime The Importance of Being Earnest, Ncuti Gatwa is back at it again. He’ll star as the legendary playwright Christopher Marlowe opposite Edward Bluemel as William Shakespeare; the year is 1591 and in a paranoid Elizabethan England the two are collaborating on Henry VI together with a mix of flirtation and suspcion.

Where is it? Wyndham’s Theatre.

How much is it? From £25.

Why book? Earnest was great, but it was a big ensemble play – if you want to see Gatwa do some proper leading man stuff, this is your chance at last. And it’s staged by the RSC, ie it’ll be classy as hell.

Okay, it does sound a bit like slash fiction, penned by an American playwright barely known in this country. But it’s also an RSC production, directed by the company’s co-leader Daniel Evans – if that’s not a mark of quality assurance, then what is?

What is it? Katie Mitchell’s second play for the David Byrne-era Royal Court threatens makes last year’s non-linear poetry adaptation Bluets look positively commerical. A collaboration between the legendary avant-garde director, playwright Nina Segal and sound artist Melanie Wilson, Cow | Deer is a wordless work about a day in the life of a cow and a deer

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£30.

Why book? Big in Europe, Katie Mitchell is probably the most revered experimental director in the world today. The cliche is that the British are too boring to get her and that she has to go abroad to find an audience – but this is truly as wild as theatre gets, and it’s coming to London only. Book because you’re a Mitchell-head or simply because you’re curious. Heck, book because you like cows.

What it it? After a successful stint in Stratford-upon-Avon, this is a coup from the small-ish Hampstead Theatre which bags the transfer of Max Webster’s modern dress production – presumably in no small part due to having had star Simon Russel Beale in recenty for last year’s The Invention of Love. Gird your loins for what’s going to be a queasy ride.

Where is it? Hampstead Theatre.

How much is it? £35-£65.

Why book? Saying Simon Russell Beale is a good Shakespearean actor is like saying Lewis Hamilton can drive a car quickly: it’s true, but it doesn’t really begin to convey the level he’s operating at. And in case you were in any doubt, the review from Stratford were great. 

What is it? Immersive theatre legends Punchdrunk return with a ‘stealth based exploration game’ based on ‘videogame mechanics’ that will see audiences deployed in teams of four onto an alien planet to try and find out the fate of the titular landing vehicle, which has disappeared mysteriously.

Where is it? The Carriageworks (Punchdrunk’s Woolwich HQ).

How much is it? About £40 a ticket (they have to be purchased in groups of two or four)

Why book? A new Punchdrunk show is always a massive event and the prospect of them crafting an immersive space adventure is enticing to say the least.

What is it? Not Your Superwoman is a new play by Emma Dennis-Edwards and it will star Letitia Wright – aka Black Panther herself – as Erica, daughter to Golda Rosheuvel’s Joyce. In the aftermath of the death of Joyce’s mother, the two find themselves paralysed about what to do with their lives next. 

Where is it? Bush Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£45.

Why go? Not Your Superwoman is the big send off for the Bush’s brilliant artistic director Lynette Linton, whose hit record on her home turf if pretty much second to none. And Marvel star Wright is a superb get as the lead. 

What is it? To be honest it’s a but hard to pin down what Alice Birch’s new play is about in terms of plot at this stage, although in general terms we’re promised Romans: A Novel will offer a dissection of masculinity from the nineteeth century to the present and the way in which male narratives shape the world as we know.

Where is it? Almeida Theatre.

How much is it? £27.50-£55

Why book? Put simply, Birch is one of our greatest living playwrights – so great she’s been waylaid by screen success recently. Her formally daring, provocatively feminist works Anatomy of a Suicide and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. are two of the great British dramas of the ’10s. So a new play is well worth it, and the cherry on top is the presence of Andor star Kyle Soller, returning to theatre in an unspecified lead role.

What is it? Auteur director Simon Stone – who had a bit hit with Yerma starring Billie Piper – adapts Henrik Ibsen’s 1888 play about a woman named Ellida caught in a love triangle between her safe husband Edward and an ex-lover so dangerous he’s referred to only as The Stranger.

Where is it? Bridge Theatre.

How much is it? £25-£115.

Why go? Stone is undoubtedly a mercurial talent whose work tends be either genius or a bit of a mess. But the big news here is the casting: Alicia Vikander will make her professional stage debut as Ellida, while Andrew Lincoln will turn in his first proper theatre role since 2009 as Edward.

What is it? This is a bold opener for Indhu Rubasingham’s first season in charge at the National Theatre: first time playwright (though he’s got decent pedigree as an actor) Nima Taleghani offers up what sounds like a racously modern – and probably quite foul-mouthed – adaptation of Euripides’s shockingly violent Ancient Greek tragedy.

Where is it? National Theatre Olivier.

How much is it? TBC.

Why book? It’s a bit of a gamble – Taleghani is the first ever playwright to make his debut in the huge Olivier – but the audacity is presumably part of the point, plus there are some very reliable names to steady it. Rubasingham herself will direct the show, which has a cast including James McArdle, Clare Perkins and Ukweli Roach.

What is it? The first major London revival 16 years for Joe Orton’s breakthrough play. Tamzin Outhwaite and Daniel Cerqueira lead the cast as a pair of siblings who both fall for their charismatic lodger Mr Sloane, much to the misgivings of their frail father.

Where is it? Young Vic.

How much is it? £12-£57.

Why go? It’s been far too long since London saw a major Orton production – not since a West End What the Butler Saw in 2012. Moreover, it’s the first play of new Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall’s first season at the Vic, and she directs – despite running Stratford East for a decent spell she’s still an unknown quantity in certain ways (how leftfield or mainstream does she see the Vic?) – this is how we find out. Jordan Stevens of Rizzle Kicks fame makes his stage debut in the title role.

What is it? Proving you’re never too old to make your London stage debut, the great Susan Sarandon will do so aged 78 as she shares the title role of this acclaimed drama by Tracy Letts with our own Andrea Riseborough. Both brilliant screen actors who have drifted away from the stage, it’s coup for Matthew Warchus to have bagged them for his UK premiere production of Letts’s intriguing sounding play that tells the life story of its title character in willfully jumbled, mosaic-like order. 

Where is it? Old Vic.

How much is it? £15-£90.

What is it? It’s been 15 years since the National Theatre staged Shakespeare’s masterpiece. But new NT boss Indhu Rubasingham isn’t messing around, and her deputy Robert Hastie’s production is her very first piece of programming in the Lyttelton. Hiran Abeysekera – best known for his Olivier-winning turn in the Hastie-directed Life of Pi – will take on the mantle of Shakespeare’s Great Dane.

Where is it? National Theatre Lyttelton.

How much is it? £20-£89.

Why book? Abeysekera is an unknown as a Shakespearean and the only advance vibes we’re getting from the production are ‘playful’. But it’s the greatest play ever written at the country’s most important theatre – if it’s not great everyone should hang their heads.

What is it? Marianne Elliott (War Horse, Curious Incident) directs Nick Payne’s first Royal Court play since his smash hit Constellations, as Nicola Walker stars as a woman trapped in a haze of grief in the seven years after her son goes missing.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£64.

Why book? Frankly the talent involved is ridiculous and it has all the makings of a Royal Court smash hit, in the same way that last year’s similarly starry Giant did. And if you think it sounds a bit conventional, worry not – apparently in Payne’s play all seven years of grief happen simultaneously, which sounds pretty mind-blowing.

What is it? The Line of Beauty is rising star playwright Jack Holden’s adaptation of Alan Hollinghurt’s classic novel of Thatcherite Britain. Set in 1983, it follows protagonist Nick as he gets sucked into an alluring, disconcerting world of extreme privilige in a rapidly changing country. 

Where is it? Almeida Theatre. 

How much is it? £tbc.

Why book? The combination of the book and the theatre is exciting enough, but the USP at this stage is superstar director Michael Grandage. More used to helming colossal spectacles like Frozen these days, this is his first show in a small theatre since he left the Donmar Warehouse over a decade ago.

Some of superstar director Michael Grandage’s first London shows were at the Almeida Theatre. But that was all a long time ago: he’s not been back this century. Until now: as part of Rupert Goold’s final season, Grandage returns to direct a very juicy prospect indeed. here’s no word on casting yet, but you wouldn’t put it paat Grandage to land a name – though his own and that of the book are doubtless quite enough to sell out the show. 

What is it? This West End revival for Shakespeare’s great tragedy of race and jealousy won’t get a fraction of the attention that the 2025 Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal production received, but there’s every hope it’ll be the better Othello. It’s directed by Tom Morris, who co-directed War Horse and then went off to run the Bristol Old Vic – but now he’s back with a bang. 

Where is it? Theatre Royal Haymarket.

How much is it? £tbc.

Why go? It’s good to have Morris back, but of course the cast is the big draw. Toby Jones has the makings of a great Iago and US actor Caitlin FitzGerald should be a good Desdemona. But the big deal here is David Harewood as Othello, returning to the role as an older man having been the first Black actor to play the role at the National Theatre back in 1997.

What is it? Paddington supremacy continues. The last year has seen the beloved Peruvian bear expand his portfolio to encompass a third film, a permanent London immersive experience, and his own limited edition run of Time Out magazine. Next up: a full blown musical theatre show, Paddington the Musical.

Where is it? Savoy Theatre.

How much it it? TBC.

Why book? Yes, okay, Paddington is a tiny bit over-exposed these days. But super producer Sonia Friedman isn’t going to let a by-numbers, will-this-do cash-in go out under her watch. The crack creative team is headed by director Luke Sheppard – who smashed it with last year’s Starlight Express revival – and written by playwright Jessica Swale with songs by McFly mainstay and kids’ author Tom Fletcher. It’s clearly aimed at kids (aged six-plus), but it should be thoroughly magical for all.

What is it? After a decade of false starts, a stage adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s dystopian YA classic The Hunger Games is coming to London in October, opening at a brand new in-the-round theatre in Canary Wharf.

Where is it? Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre.

How much is it? £tbc – tickets on sale March 27.

Why book? We’re not going to lie: the odds are most audience members will be fans of the books. Unlike recent stage outings for Harry Potter, Stranger Things and the TBC Game of Thrones play, this isn’t a new story: it’s the first bool adapted for stage. But despair not, theatre nerds: it has a thrilling creative team led by top playwright Conor McPherson – you can probably expect a darker, grungier take than the films.

What is it? John Le Carré’s landmark Cold War novel has a huge reputation but is relatively under-adapted compared to the later Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Now here’s a theatre version, transferring to London after an acclaimed run at Chichester last year.

Where is it? @sohoplace.

How much is it? £25-£95.

Why book? The morally ambigious story of battle weary British intelligence officer Alec Leanas (Rory Keenan), who is ready to ‘come in from the cold’ but pressed into one more job by spymaster George Smiley (John Ramm), is one of the all time great works of twentieth century literature. And reviews from its debut in Chichester fully suggest that this stage version by David Eldridge, directed by Jeremy Herrin has thrillingly cracked its transition to stage. 

What is it? Belgian super director Ivo van Hove helms a cast led by Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Paapa Essiedu for Aruthur Miller’s monumental drama about Joe Keller, an American businessman who may have done something terrible.

Where is it? Wyndham’s Theatre.

How much is it? £25-£165.

Why book? That cast is to die for and Van Hove’s 2014 production of Miller’s A View from the Bridge is one of the greatest British theatre shows of the century – it’s fair to say hopes are very high.

What is it? Chiller specialising US playwright Levi Holloway adapts the classic found footage horror movie for the stage.

Where is it? Ambassadors Theatre.

How much is it? £25-£110.

Why book? Primarily because it’s being directed by Felix Barrett, the visionary founder of Punchdrunk: his audacious and chilling body of work suggests the film’s legacy is in good hands.

What is it? US playwright Rajiv Joseph’s biggest hit, the Pulitzer-nominated Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo went on to transfer to Broadway in 2011, with the late, great Robin Williams in the role of the titular fast-talking tiger, which finds itself caught up in the chaos of post-Saddam, US-occupied Iraq.

Where is it? Young Vic.

How much is it? £tbc.

Why book? A UK production has been hoped for for yonks – mischievous director Omar Elerian feels like the perfect man to bring the tale to life in the post-Iraq era. He’s assembled an excellent cast, headed up by David Threlfall as the tiger and Arinzè Kene as US soldier Kev.

What is it? Remember that one-woman Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook? Well the Australian team behind it have made a couple of other high-tech one-woman stage adaptations of classic Victorian horror novels. And in 2026 Dracula will come to London with a proper big name at its centre: Cynthia Erivo, in her first West End role in over a decade.

Where is it? Noël Coward Theatre.

How much is it? £tbc. Tickets go on sale later in 2025.

Why book? Wicked star Erivo is a generational talent looking to prove she's not just a pretty voice: playing 26 different roles she'll certainly flex her acting muscles. But the show isn't just an actor showing off on an empty stage: as with Dorian Gray, director Kip Williams’s show is a  dazzling technological edifice that should blow your mind in its own right.