The best theatre shows in London for 2026 and 2027 not to miss

What is it? A very rare chance to see a major revival of Caryl Churchill”s breakthroughh play, directed by Dominic Cooke. Set in both colonial Africa and ’70s England – with its characters only aging 25 years in a 125-year jump – the play is anything but straightforward but basically draws a line between sexual and colonial repression via its dizzying array of characters.

Where is it? National Theatre, Lyttelton.

How much is it? £20-£120.

Why book? Churchill is one of the greatest playwrights of all time, but her plays are so complex and otherworldly that even major classics are rarely revived. This is a rare opportunity to see a masterpiece.

What is it? The summer’s biggest hit, Stephen Beresford and Matthew Warchus’ adaptation of their hit Britflick Pride played a long, sold-out season at the National Theatre’s small Dorfman Theatre this summer and now it transfers to the much larger Bridge.

Where is it? Bridge Theatre (from Nov 12).

How much is it? £28.50-£200.

Why go? This true-life story of a group of gay activists who affiliated with a pit of striking Welsh miners in the mid-’80s is exhilarating, heartbreaking and the most talked-about musical of the year. Tickets have been rarer than hens’ teeth but at the Bridge demand should keep pace with supply.

What is it? Debuting at Manchester’s Factory International last year, thos RSC show show – directed by Christine Jones and Steven Hoggett – does indeed combine Thom Yorke’s specially rearranged score of tracks from Radiohead’s sixth album Hail to the Thief, with a very edited version of (duh) Hamlet.

Where is it? Barbican Centre.

How much is it? £30-£150

Why book? Clearly essential for Radiohead fans, it’s a short, gloomy, strange take on the play with moments of spine-tingling magic when songs and story do hit mesh perfectly. And it’s a very decent cast, with Samuel Blenkin as Hamlet and Paul Hilton as Claudius. 

What is it? Swiss writer Christian Kracht’s autofiction novel about a mother and son (named Christian) who head out on a road-trip through the Alps in an effort to give away the family fortune (and escape a shameful legacy) is one of the buzziest book of recent times. Now it hits the stage.

Where is it? Young Vic.

How much is it? £tbc.

Why book? It’s a zeitgeisty book and great looking adaptation (by Irish writer Colin Teevan) that stars big names Ben Whishaw and Kathryn Turner star as the roadtripping duo.

What is it? Although the National Theatre will be running shows in all three theatres over the Christmas hols, The Jungle Book is emphatically its Big Christmas Show. A lavish family friendly adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s India-set story cycle, it’s adapted by Indian playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar (of the excellent The Father and the Assassin fame).

Where is it? National Theatre, Olivier.

How much is it? £25-£105.

Why book? The NT always pulls out the stops at Christmas and it’s worth stressing this is emphatically not a stage version of the beloved Disney film. Specifically, we know that the action is being relocated to the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in the country’s east. And one would imagine Chandrasekhar’s spin will be distinctly postcolonial. But don’t imagine it’ll be radically different: it’ll focus on Mowgli the Man-Cub – played by NT stalwart Hiran Abeysekera – and feature spectacular puppet renderings of his various animal friends and enemies. 

What is it? Sir Ian McKellen returns to the stage to star in a high-concept one-man take on Shakespeare’e King Lear from playwright Simon Stephens, co-starring Taylor Russell as Cordelia.

Where is it? Yard Theatre.

How much is it? £sold out but new tickets released Nov 5.

Why book? It’s Ian frickin’ McKellen, 87-year-old screen and stage legend, in a tiny east London theatre. Why wouldn’t you want to see it?

What is it? David Nicholls’ tearjerker novel revisiting couple Dex and Em on July 15 every year for  20 years starting from the first night they spend together has already been made into a film and TV series and now here comes the musical, written by playwright David Greig with songs by Abner and Amanda Ramirez.

Where is it? Garrick Theatre.

How much is it? £30-£110.

Why book? One Day: The Musical debuted in Edinburgh earlier this year at the Lyceum Theatre where word was good and it it extended its run by a couple of weeks. So excitement is high for the transfer of this beloved story, with is led by West End stars Jamie Muscato and Sharon Rose as Dex and Em.

What is it? The unassuming name belies the fact that Three and a Bit is the latest work from Caryl Churchill, probably Britain’s greatest living playwright and a good pal of new Almeida boss Dominic Cooke, who has rather impressively deployed her for the second time despite this technically being his first piece of programming.

Where is it? Almeida Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£55.

Why book? Because it’s Caryl Churchill, dummy. The description for what we’re assuming is either three or four short plays is cryptic in the extreme, but Churchill is a tireless provocative and astounding cerebral playwright whose every word – literally – is worth hanging on.

What is it? Three generations of a revered African-American political dynasty are snowed in together in this explosive drama from provocative Black playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£74.50.

Why book? Purpose comes highly recommended, having won the 2025 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for best play. And this is the entire original Broadway production, directed by the great Phylicia Rashad.

What is it? There has, somewhat astonishingly, never been a British production of Tracy Letts’ all-time classic August: Osage County. For its twentieth anniversary, the 2007 drama about an addled, acidic Oklahoma family devouring itself over the course of a month finally gets a Brit production, which will be directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Where is it? Noël Coward Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£185.

Why book? Letts’ tale of a sprawling Oklahoma family dissolving in its own acid is a classic and the cast is shaping up to be a great one,  with Lesley Manville as prescripton medication-addicted matriarch Violet Weston and Anna Maxwell-Martin as her controlling daughter Barbara. 

What is it? The rather bland name belies the fact that this is the legendary Rowan Atkinson’s first West End show in 40 years – and the odds are it’ll be his last, given he’s now in his early seventies.

Where is it? Gillian Lynne Theatre.

How much is it? Currently sold oit but we hope for an extension.

Why book? Atkinson is obviously one of the foremost comic actors to emerge from the UK in the last 50 years. And the icing on the cake is that Rowan Live is the first time he’ll be bringing his immortal characters Blackadder and Mr Bean to the stage.

What is it? Quentin Tarantino has written a play! It’s a homage to the swashbucking silent movies of the 1930s and set a centurey early, and stars Sacha Baron Cohen in his first professional stage acting role.

Where is it? Phoenix Theatre.

How much is it? £30-£250.

Why book? Because it’s Tarantino, and while a novice theatremaker, he’s one of the great film directors and screenwriters of the last 30 years. Toss in the stage debut of Cohen, one of the world’s most famous comic performer, and you’re certainly not going to be bored. 

What is it? This new play is from V, formerly known as Eve Ensler, author of the seminal work of ’90s feminism The Vagina Monologues. The Apology is her imagining a conversation with her late father (played by Tobias Menzies) who abused her as a child.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£74.50.

Why book? A new Ensler/V play is an enticing prospect in and of itself but what makes this a must watch is the fact it’s directed by Simon McBurney for his visionary theatre company Complicité – expect it to be formally groundbreaking as well as emotionally devastating.

What is it? A lavish stage adaptation of Disney’s 2017, the biggest surprise to some may be that The Greatest Showman is new to the stage. It’s a rare example of a massively successful musical that started life on screen, where the role of the legendary American circus impresario PT Barnum was famously played by Hugh Jackman.

Where is it? Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

How much is it? TBA, tickets on sale Nov 21 2026.

Why book? The film’s Gen Z-friendly, modern-pop inflected score is beloved by a generation and the whole thing is steered by big name Broadway talent, notably director Casey Nicholaw who helmed the musical version of Disney’s Aladdin and whose work you can see all over the London stage, most notably in long-running classic The Book of Mormon. He’s joined by the film’s songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who have written a series of new tunes to expand the musical. Plus: live circus acts! Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks star as the Barnums.

What is it? Michael Sheen has a history with Peter Shaffer’s masterpiece Amadeus. He first starred in it as a young man, playing the naive, vulgar, supernaturally gifted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Old Vic in 1998, opposite David Suchet as his embittered nemesis Antionio Saliere. Now he’ll bring his own take on Salieri to the West End – the next London outing for his new Welsh National Theatre.

Where is it? Noël Coward Theatre.

How much is it? £20-£180.

Why book? Not only is Sheen a great actor, but he knows the hell out of this play – which is, by the by, one of the greates of the twentieth century.

What is it? London already has a very entertaining mini version of gameshow of our era The Traitors that you can particpate in: The Traitors Live. But in the summer of 2027 it will be joined by The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal, a lavish new comedy play moving into one of London’s biggest theatres, that will offer a humorous fictional take on an invented season of the show.

Where is it? Gillian Lynne Theatre.

How much is it? £25-£160.

Why book? Because you love The Traitors? Currently booking for just two-and-a-half months, the comedy offers a cycle of five different plays, each of which begins the same but rapidly diverges as different participants are voted out in each iteration of the run of a show. It’s a pretty serious project, directed by National Theatre deputy Robert Hastie and starring comic actor Nick Mohammed as the Claudia Winkleman stand in host. 

What is it? Emma Thompson has previously made two film about Christiana Brand's anarchic magical childcarer Nanny McPhee and now she returns as writer – albeit not star of – a musical stage adaptation, with songs by Gary Clark.

Where is it? Aldwych Theatre.

How much is it? £35-£175.

Why book? Aside from the injection of star power, Thompson is a talented writer who feels passionately about her subject, Director Katie Rudd is very good with magical realist stuff. London could always use a new big family musical.

What is it? A revival of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents’ lavish 1957 New York gangland musical reworking of Romeo & Juliet.

Where is it? National Theatre, Olivier.

How much is it? £30-£119.

Why book? Any production of West Side Story is a huge undertaking and a once-in-a-generation event: there hasn’t been a major London production since the tail-end of the ’90s. Now Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell bring back the tragic love story of star cross’d lovers Tony and Maria. It’s a banger-stuffed classic and you can expect the NT to pull out all the stops.

What is it? Star of Happy Valley, McMafia and the new season of House of the Dragon James Norton has a go at Hamlet, playing the the ennui-engulfed Danish prince of Shakespeare’s existential revenge thriller.

Where it it? TBC, but a West End theatre in autumn 2027.

How much is it? TBC.

Why book? Obviously there’s always a thrill of a major star ‘giving their Dane’. But the secret weapon is unpredictable German director Thomas Ostermeier – combined with Norton’s proclivity for range (he can play a good guy! He can play a bad guy! He can play in between!) we really don’t know what to expect here.

What is it? The RSC's Duncan Macmillan-penned prequel to George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Books (and by extension their noted TV adaptation A Game of Thrones) was a stonking hit at Stratford in the summer of 2026 and is now heading for London in 2027.

Where is it? TBA.

How much is it? TBA.

Why book? It got great reviews at Stratford and whether you love Game of the Thrones or not it’s a big, self-consciously Shakespearean yarn of plotting, intrigue and lots of knights jousting.

What is it? The last time Jessie Buckley appeared on stage, it was via her incandsescent turn in the first cast of the West End’s long-running revival of Cabaret. Screen success has filled a lot of the interim – most notably her Oscar-nominated turn in Hamnet – and she’s also had a baby, which probably accounts for her long-overdue return to the theatre in Nina Segal’s Afterbirth, a play ‘about the disorientating reality of life after birth’.

Where is it? Royal Court Theatre.

How much is it? £15-£79.50.

Why book? Segal is a smart leftfield writer who deserves her moment in the spotlight, but of course the big deal is Buckley’s return – it’s just a shame it doesn’t open until 2028.