The best theatre shows in London for 2026 not to miss

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? £30-£225.

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.

What is it? Although his glory days were undoubedly in the middle of the twentieth century, Arthur Miller’s late works still pack a punch, and none more so than 1994’s Broken Glass, about a New York Jewish couple with a troubled marriage who are physically stricken down just as the events of Kristalnacht unfold.

Where is it? Young Vic.

How much is it? £12-£59.

Why book? It’s a rare-ish chance to see one of Miller’s great plays. And anticipation levels are given a significant boost by the directon of rising star Jordan Fein, his first stage outing since the Bridge’s superlative Into the Woods.

What is it? Michael Sheen recently launch the new Welsh National Theatre. He’ll star in its first production, a revival of Thornton Wilder’s metatheatrical masterpiece Our Town, which transfers to London after touring Wales.

Where is it? Rose Theatre Kingston.

How much is it? £6.50-£86.50.

Why book? Wilder’s ahead of its time 1938 play about the lives and – slight spoiler – afterlives of the citizens of the US small town of Grover’s Corner is a classic that’s always welcome. But clearly Sheen himself is the secret ingredient here: who doesn’t want to see him on stage?

What is it? Rebecca Lucy Taylor - aka sardonic pop star Self Esteem – will follow in Helen Mirren’s footsteps to star in David Hare’s classic 1975 play about Maggie Frisbee, an embittered, alcoholic rock star left raging and washed up at the end of the ’60s.

Where is it? Duke of York’s Theatre.

How much is it? £25-£150.

Why book? Clearly this is going to do the business with the large number of Self Esteem fans out there. But for anyone else Taylor surely remains a genuine curiousity, and moreover without her this ultra-rare revival of a classic David Hare play would be unlikely to have got off the ground.

What is it? As part of its seventieth birthday season the Royal Court has bagged the UK debut of Kimberley Belflower’s US smash John Protcor is the Villain, a very playful post-#MeToo riff on Arthur Miller’s landmark The Crucible.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£74.50. 

Why book? It’s a wholesale transfer of Danya Taymor’s hugely praised, multi-award Broadway smash production. We don’t know if original US star Sadie Sink will return, but heavyweight co-producers Sonia Friedman and Wessex Grove suggests we should get a decent cast and West End aspirations. 

What is it? Brit auteur Robert Icke returns to the West End with a new take on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, starring Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink in her UK stage debut (as Juliet) and A Quiet Place’s Noah Jupe as Romeo.

Where is it? Harold Pinter Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£150.

Why book? There is, of course, a very strong chance you want to see big name Sink. And good news: despite still being in her early twenties, she’s a Broadway vet. Really, though, the exciting news is always Icke: one of our greatest directors, who always finds new depths in classic texts.

What is it? The mighty Marianne Elliott returns to her old haunt the National Theatre to direct this deluxe revival of Christopher Hampton’s classic stage adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos sexy epistolary novel. Starring big names Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner as scheming artistocrats turned bitter rivals.

Why book? It’s a great play and with a superlative cast and director it's undeniably the jewel in the crown of the NT’s spring season, with a much longer run than anything else.

Where is it? National Theatre, Lyttelton.

How much is it? TBC.

What is it? The first major London revival for the stage version of Ken Kesey’s countercultural classic in over 20 years comes this spring, as Clint Dyer directs Aaron Pierre and Giles Terera as two inmates of a hellish psychiatric ward. 

Where is it? Old Vic. 

How much is it? £13-£150.

Why book? Kesey’s fable of institutionalistion is crying out for a fresh look in the internet era, and Dyer has interesting ideas of his own, with a predominently Black cast representing the inmates menaced by Michelle Gomez’s Nurse Ratched. As much as anything, it’s a tremendous cast.

What is it? Ralph Fiennes has been beavering away busily over at Theatre Royal Bath this last year. Transferring from it, Fiennes and Miranda Raison will star as the great Victorian actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry in Grace Pervades, the approximately millionth (well, thirty-second) play from the great David Hare (curiously it’ll run in the West End at the same time as a revival of his very early play Teeth ‘N’ Smiles). 

Where is it? Theatre Royal Haymarket.

How much is it? £30-£199.

Why book? It got great reviews in Bath and is by all accounts a fascinating drama about one of the great acting dynasties, driven by a typically powerhouse performance from Fiennes.

What is it? Ava Pickett’s superb debut play follows three young women who meet at the outskirts of an Essex village to discuss love, life and Anne Boleyn’s execution. A hit for the Almeida, it transfers to the West End in 2026.

Where is it? Ambassadors Theatre.

How much is it? £30-£150.

Why go? It’s a brilliant, bold debut play: original, funny and bleakly astute in its observations on the power dynamics between men and women that go considerably beyond the Early Modern Period. A well deserved hit from a writer really going places.

What is it? Young Bertold Brecht make his debut at the Globe as Elle While directs his 1939 anti-war classic Mother Courage and Her Children. Globe boss Michelle Terry will take on the eponymous role of war profiteer Mother Courage, whose children are gradually killed off by the conflicts she herself profits from. 

Where is it? Shakespeare’s Globe.

How much is it? £5-£85.

Why book? Terry remains one of the best actors of her generation, and the prospect of seeing Brecht’s epic drama done in this miost epic of spaces for the first time is a thrilling one.

What is it? Technically known as Beetlejuice The Musical. The Musical. The Musical, this massive scale Broadway adaptation of the classic Tim Burton comedy horror movie has been a big hit in the States. It follows a couple who die and enlist the services of a mad ‘bio-exorcist’ to get rid of the odious new owners of their beloved home.

Where is it? Prince Edward Theatre.

How much is it? £20-£153.50.

Why book? Because you enjoyed the film and you like massive spectacular big budget Broadway shows of the sort we only get once every few years.

What is it? Gary Oldman designs, directs and (of course) stars in this production of Samuel Beckett’s high concept elegy for youthful ambition.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£74.50.

Why book? Beckett’s play about an old man listening back with mounting horror to the megalomaniacal tapes he recorded on previous birthdays is an all-time classic, and this production received great reviews when it debuted in York in 2025. Plus of course there’s the allure of seeing Oldman on stage again after an enormous 37-year absence.

What is it? Matthew Warchus directs Stephen Beresford’s adaptation of their own acclaimed 2014 film. Based on a true story and real characters, Pride tells the story of the solidarity the British LGBT community offered the striking miners in the ’80s, with the story revolving around young gay activist Mark Ashton, who brokered the unlikely alliance.

Where is it? National Theatre, Dorfman.

How much is it? £20-£65.

Why go? The film is a modern queer classic and it’s exciting that this musical comes from the team who made it, including Warchus, a very seasoned director of musials. A fine ensemble cast includes Samuel Barnett and Chris Jenkins. 

What is it? If you thought Jamie Lloyd’s hipster, prosthetics-free production of Edmund Rostand’s classic play had killed off the classic big-nosed take on Cyrano de Bergerac, you’d be very wrong. Simon Evans directs Adrian Lester and Susannah Fielding as they reprise their roles from the RSC’s acclaimed Stratford production.

Where is it? Noël Coward Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£195.

Why book? Glowing Stratford reviews and the star presence of Lester and Fielding should do you frankly. And the play – about witty but ugly Cyrano and his complicated relartionship with his love Roxane – is a stone cold classic

What is it? Hollywood star Sandra Oh is a very good get indeed for the National Theatre, as she takes on the title role in NT boss Indhu Rubasingham’s revival of Moliére’s timeless comedy The Misanthrope.

Where is it? National Theatre, Lyttelton.

How much is it? £tba.

Why book? It’ll be interesting to see what the veteran playwright Martin Crimp does with the tghird iteration of his his adaptation of The Misanthrope, which has had some very rude prrior incarnations. But of course the big news here is the chance to see Oh on the humble British stage. 

What is it? Having only (co-)directed a single non-Punchdrunk show previously, Felix Barrett – boss of the legendary immersive theatre company – made a fine return to ‘straight’ theatre last year with the genuinely creepy Paranormal Activity. Now he’s back at it with another film adaptation, with Russell Tovey starring in Chloë Moss’s version of the Danish film Den Skyldige and its US remake The Guilty.

Where is it? Donmar Warehouse.

How much is it? £15-£72.

Why book? Starring Russell Tovey as a 999 operator who is plunged into an alarming web of danger after a cryptic call,m expect a gripping thriller enhanced by Barrett’s formiddable technical trickery.

What is it? It’s finally happened: human civilization has finally lasted long enough that there is a second British production of Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster adaptation of TS Eliot’s whimsical book of feline kids’ poetry was the quintessential musical of the ’80s, and now it’s back in a new version directed and chreographed by OAT boss Drew McOnie.

Where is it? Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£91.50.

Why go? A lot of people of course just love Cats, one of the most successful musicals of all time. But there’s something thriling about this being an all-new take: it’s Cats, but not as we know it.

What is it? Clint Dyer helms a widescreen National Theatre UK premiere of Tracey Scott Wilson's 2003 play. Based on a series of real-life stories, it follows four journalists as they frantical scrabble to land the story of a white teacher murdered in a Black neighbourhood.

Where is it? National Theatre, Olivier.

How much is it? TBA. 

Why book? It’s an intriguing play that feels like it has much to say about the online era. But it’s alos got a top notch cast, headed by Letitia Wright of Black Panther fame.

What is it? A big coup for Hampstead Theatre here, as it bags the UK premiere of the wildly acclaimed US indie musical Kimberley Akimbo. Created by composer Jeanine Tesori and writer David Lindsay-Abaire, it follows a 16-year-old girl afflicted by a rare disease that makes her age four times faster than usual, meaning she has the appearance of an elderly woman while essentially being a teen.

Where is it? Hampstead Theatre.

How much is it? TBC.

Why book? It’s a fasincating premise but frankly the froth mouthed reviews from Broadway are more than enough for us. 

What is it? Scarcely a year after he gave Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea his own inimitable treatment, writer-director Simon Stone returns the Bridge to turns his hand to Chekhov’s potrtait of a washed up middle aged man looking back on his glory days.

Where is it? Bridge Theatre.

How much is it? £29.50-£195.

Why book? Stone is a thrillingly unpredictable director, albeit an acquired taste, but the big draw is naturally Hollywood star Chris Pine in his UK stage debut.

What is it? A revival for Stephen Unwin’s original UK production of Manfred Karge’s hallucinatory solo play about a widow who assumes her late husband’s job and identity in inter-war Germany had its UK premiere at Edinburgh Traverse Theatre in 1987 before transferring to the Court the following year. It provided a breakthrough for an androgynous young actor named Tilda Swinton – whp reprises her role here. 

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£74.50.

Why book? It’s a good, weird play, but clearly the attraction is the chance to see huge cult star Tilda Swinton on a British stage for the first time since the ’80s.

What is it? Wicked lovers Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey star in Stephen Sondheim’s virtuosic 1984 classic inspired by the pointillist painter Georges Seurat's work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which follows a fictionalised version of the artist plus – years later – his cynical great grandson. 

Where is it? Barbican Centre, in TBC dates summer 2027.

How much is it? TBC but tickets go on sale May 2026.

Why book? The musical is a classic but it’s the reunion of Grande and Bailey that’s going to sell this out essentially instantly. If you want to to, get on it as soon as booking opens.