Plays

Matthew Warchus' big-hearted, smash hit production of Charles Dickens' immortal classic returns to The Old Vic, joyously adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).

You don’t realise how people can hate, Chris, they can hate so much they’ll tear the world to pieces…’

America, 1947. Despite hard choices and even harder knocks, Joe and Kate Keller are a success story. They have built a home, raised two sons and established a thriving business.

Ida Barr – the people’s pensioner and the Queen Mother of our hearts – is a former music hall singer turned rap star and Underbelly favourite. Her brand of Artificial Hip Hop has thrilled listeners globally from dope cribs to residential care homes.

Now the hip-op hip-hop star, the missing link between music hall and dancehall, presents her Revolutionary Bingo Show. Change the world and win big! Nothing will be the same again after a night of social agitation and tiny acts of rebellion using protest R&B and dissident songs from the 19th Century all rapped up in a communal hip hop style with mass singalongs and lots of that most revolutionary tool of all – laughter!
 

Michael Frayn’s award-winning Noises Off premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1982 and instantly became an iconic British comedy.

With technical brilliance and split-second timing, it takes us behind the scenes with a company of actors in a hilarious and heartfelt tribute to the unpredictability of life in the theatre.

Hailed as one of the funniest plays of all time, Noises Off makes its triumphant return to the Lyric almost 40 years on, in a bold new production by Jeremy Herrin (Wolf Hall/This House) for fans to enjoy and new audiences to discover.
 

Following a critically acclaimed West End Season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last year, with their productions of Uncle Vanya and Life & Fate (Critics Choice The Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times), the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg returns to the West End with this luminous retelling of Chekhov’s masterpiece, Three Sisters.

Since 2005, the Comedy Club 4 Kids has been getting the best stand-ups and sketch acts from the international circuit to do their thing for an audience of children (aged 6+) and their families… but without the rude bits! A decade later, the company has expanded from one London residency to being countrywide, running shows and workshops all over the UK from Peebles to Portsmouth, even producing a book on how to write and perform stand-up.

Shakespeare's fantastical fable of desire, confusion, jealousy and growing up.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

Through live music, playful adventure and physical invention, see the lovers' world transformed into a place of magic, laughter and healing, as we journey into the woods.

Birth; marriage; death. And everything in between.

"Do any human beings ever realise life as they live it? Every - every, minute?"

Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play celebrates what it means to be human, the bonds that hold communities together, and our relationships with the ancient past and the eternal tomorrow.

Over 100 dancers and musicians bring Nutcracker to life with exquisite dancing, beautiful sets and Tchaikovsky’s popular score played live.

On a sparkling Christmas Eve in a frost-dusted Edwardian London, Clara and her enchanted Nutcracker doll discover a magical world, where she battles with the Mouse King and meets a handsome stranger. As the air grows colder, Clara and her valiant Nutcracker take a hot air balloon ride across London to the glistening Land of Snow where her adventure really begins.

From the sound of the orchestra tuning up, to the final bows and cheers, a trip to see the English National Ballet at the London Coliseum is an unforgettable Christmas treat.

Travel to a faraway land for the adventures of a dashing pirate, Conrad, and his feisty girlfriend Medora. Will they outfox villainous schemers and find happiness on the high seas?

English National Ballet’s Le Corsaire is “hugely enjoyable entertainment” (The Daily Telegraph). Expect a swashbuckling romp, full of thrilling dancing by an extraordinary cast of performers, with gorgeous decors and costumes created by Hollywood’s Bob Ringwood, all set to a romantic score played live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.

English National Ballet is the only UK company to perform this classic story ballet. Their extravagant production, staged by Anna-Marie Holmes, has enthralled audiences and received rave reviews worldwide, including Paris and Tokyo. It returns to the London Coliseum following glorious performances in 2016.

Master of minimalist movement Tao Ye founded TAO in 2008. Now famous for their stripped-down forms, the company brings two pieces from its Numerical Series, both featuring music from Tao’s regular collaborator, the avant-garde composer Xiao He.

In 4, a quartet move together in perfectly coordinated formation, without ever touching, as if drawn by a magnetic wave.

Tao’s latest work, 9, signifies a departure from the previous seven works in the series. A significant number in Chinese culture, representing a cycle of hardship and renewal, nine dancers hide connections within chaos.

Five-star smash-hit Shakespearience returns! The Bard’s best-loved works burst into life in this high-octane, whistle-stop tour of three of Shakespeare’s plays, the perfect introduction for the next generation of budding Romeos and Juliets.
Join Shakespeare's “Men” as they fly through Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night in a whirlwind hour of mischievous storytelling. With tons of audience interaction, more than a dash of mayhem and a star turn from one lucky adult (shhh, don’t tell!), Shakespearience is the perfect treat for all the family!

Olivier Award 2016 winners The Showstoppers are back in the West End transforming audience suggestions into all-singing, all-dancing shows with unpredictable and hilarious results.

Winners of the best Children’s presentation at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2016 and 2015, and runners up for children’s choice ward 2016 the Trash Test Dummies are as full of laughs as their bins are full of surprises. “Delightfully intelligent, highly entertaining".

Returning from a sell out Season at the Edinburgh Fringe with rave reviews, this award winning, sidesplitting slapstick comedy routine takes the household wheelie bin to new heights, and delivers a dump-truck full of hilarity! “Circus and acrobatic show perfect for families.

Nominees of the 2015 Perth Fringe World Circus Award, and winners of the Gas works Circus Showdown 2014, the Trash Test Dummies is a family friendly, circus comedy show like no other. “Dungeree’d Dummies from down under create an adventure playground out of dustbins.

Leigh Rhodes, Thomas McDonald and Amy Nightingale-Olsen are highly skilled circus performers that can trash talk with the best of them. These dexterous dummies take the audience on a journey into their playful imagination, where they invite them to take a fresh look at the humble household wheelie bin."Three men took to the stage with their wheelie bins, what happened next blew our minds.

See English National Ballet’s Cinderella at the Royal Albert Hall this summer!

Award-winning choreographer, Christopher Wheeldon, restages his sparkling production of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale in-the-round.

Cinderella becomes a truly spectacular ballet as the Royal Albert Hall is brought to life with over 90 dancers, a live orchestra, and plenty of surprises.

This June, enter an enchanting kingdom where forest creatures live alongside princes, a growing tree appears to dance in the wind, and Cinderella’s wit and generosity get her to the ball – with the help of a little bit of magic.

Set to the melodious tunes of Prokofiev’s sublime score, performed by English National Ballet Philharmonic, this incredible ballet combines magnificent sets and costumes with lively choreography that is guaranteed to delight, move and astound.

Christopher Wheeldon (OBE and Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet) originally created Cinderella to great acclaim for Dutch National Ballet and San Francisco Ballet: be the first to see how he and his collaborators now adapt it for English National Ballet and the grand space of the Royal Albert Hall.

DINOSAUR WORLD LIVE STAMPEDES INTO WEMBLEY

Dare to experience the dangers and delights of Dinosaur World Live in this roarsome interactve show for all the family.

Grab your compass and join our intrepid explorer across unchartered territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing (and remarkably life-like) dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, including every child’s favourite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor and Segnosaurus!

We all want to meet people from history! The trouble is everyone is dead!

So it’s time to prepare yourselves for Horrible Histories live on stage with the smash hit production of Barmy Britain – Part Four!
Would you be shaken or stirred by Richard III? Mount a mutiny against King Henry VIII! See Mary Tudor knock the spots off Mary Queen of Scots! Will Queen Elizabeth I endure her terrible teeth? Would you be hanged by King James I for being a witch? Peep into the world of Samuel Pepys and help Georgian detectives find the headless man! Take a trip into the night with the night soil men and discover how to survive the first ever train ride! After seven sensational years in the West End, Barmy Britain is back!

It’s the show you’ve all been asking for – and it’s brought to you by the people behind the worldwide smash hit, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience.

This fully immersive show transports audiences to The Nags Head to meet the pride of Peckham in a night of wheeling, dealing and eating. 

Did you ever see the CBS TV show Twilight Zone? If you were around in the '60s and '70s you'll be familiar with its vintage charm. Some stories were terrifying. Some were pretty silly. But they were all irresistible. That hairy monster on the aeroplane engine... nasty. If you haven't seen them, you're in for a huge treat thanks to this tongue in cheek comedy-horror-scifi masterpiece.

Emilia is a new play. The Independent called it ‘extraordinarily rousing'. It's on at the magnificent Vaudeville Theatre from March 2019, starring an all-female cast. Expect a ‘magnificent production’, according to The Stage, and you won't be disappointed. The Times says this play is packed with ‘wit, fierce intelligence and heady intensity’. And they're right...

Award-winning comedian Adam Kay shares entries from his diaries as a junior doctor in this “electrifying” (Guardian) evening of stand-up and music.

Absolute sell-out Edinburgh Fringe 2016, 2017 & 2018, Soho Theatre 2017, UK tour and Duchess Theatre 2018.

The accompanying book, ‘This is Going to Hurt’ is a Sunday Times bestseller, and is being turned into a major BBC series. Copies will be available to purchase and for signature after the performance.

Can words still pack a punch in the reign of Twitter?

Have the carriers of thought, the deliverers of argument, the elements of poetry, the sounds that make us human – lost their force in the age of short attention span?

Simon Schama has lived in the house of words for half a century – as historian, art critic, broadcaster and journalist. He has spun the web of words in big books and tight essays; he’s done stand up in Chicago and live cook shows on TV.  Now he has a new collection of writing on everything from Falstaff to Leonard Cohen, pomegranates to populism.

You can hear his words on stage at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on June 2nd.

Presented by Fane Productions as part of the ‘Sunday Encounters at the Haymarket’ season

Direct from Brooklyn’s most notorious nightclub, BLUNDERLAND is an acid trip down the rabbit hole for a variety show unlike any other. This hedonistic party of queer underground excess features the finest acts in international circus, cabaret, and burlesque, tinged with an unmistakable glow of club kid euphoria and arthouse weird.
 

After touring the globe, the legendary cabaret YUMMY is making it's London debut! Join the ever fabulous and award-winning ensemble as they take you on the most delicious and unpredictable ride of your life.
Winners of "Best Production" and "Best Ensemble" (Cabaret) at the 2018 Green Room Awards, YUMMY has become synonymous with breath-taking drag, music, circus, and burlesque. The show is outrageous as it is avant garde, and is known for its refreshing new style.
Featuring an unbelievable cast including: Valerie Hex (Taylor Mac, Glory Box, and BRIEFS), Karen From Finance (International drag super star), Zelia Rose (#1 Burlesque Artist in the World, 21st Century Burlesque), Hannie Helsden (La Soireé, Burly Q Club), Jandruze (Dark MOFO, Discordia), Benjamin "Bendy Ben" Hancock (Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc), and Joni in the Moon (Western Australian Music Awards Pop Song of the Year, 2016). Come and join the stars of YUMMY as they lead a new wave of outrageous, joyful, and innovative cabaret.

As seen on ITV1’s This Morning, BBC1’s Bafta Awards 2018, SKY’s Around the World in 80 Tricks and star of the west-end hit magic show Impossible- Break-dancin’ magician Magical Bones returns to the Underbelly South Bank, to unbox a brand-new set of explosive street magic.

Bones’ originality stands alone, so look forward to back-flip card tricks, back spinning whilst solving a rubik’s cube, as well as intricate sleight of hand effortlessly combined with jaw-dropping break-dance moves. Come and experience an awe-inspiring journey that includes lots of laughter & smiles, with tons of genuine ‘OMG!’ moments along the way!

"Whooo are yooou?" Asked the Cheshire cat.

Why we’re the Fringe’s favourite all singing, all dancing, all drinking musical. Shit-faced Showtime is back for 2019 and this time we’ve fallen right through the cocktail glass to bring you a 'boozical' adaption the adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

Join us every Saturday night for a huge line up of the best comedy talent on offer. London Comedy Allstars is your one-stop shop for the biggest laughs, the best location and your new favourite night out. Southbank will be non-stop LOLs.
Line ups TBA. Past acts include Josie Long, Ed Gamble, Phil Wang, Jayde Adams, Suzi Ruffell and more.

Here at The Showstoppers’ Kids Show we take your ideas and turn them into marvellous, musical interactive adventures.

You decide where the story is set, who we meet and where we go. Harry Potter on the moon? Done! Peppa Pig and the Gruffalo meet dinosaurs inside a dolls house? No worries!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR GROWN UPS!: Children (and ONLY children!) are in charge in – no cheating please! Kids get to decide who our heroes are and what happens next in every story. All they need to do is shout out their ideas and The Showstoppers will bring them to life, right there on the spot. They can even join in!

If your children could create their very own dream musical show, where would they start? A magical castle under the sea? A spooky graveyard? And who would the characters be? A super hero? A crocodile? A fairy? From their imaginations straight onto the stage – we’ll bring their ideas to life.

Returning to London with their West End premiere, BalletBoyz presents its two new works set to original scores for 16 performances only.

Join Kelsey Grammer for an intimate evening this June to celebrate his illustrious career for one night only. Hosted by English broadcaster, comedian and writer Iain Lee this is an evening not to be missed.

One day. Six cities. A thousand stories.

Following two sell-out runs at the National Theatre and a world tour, Inua Ellams’ acclaimed Barber Shop Chronicles comes to the Roundhouse this summer.

Newsroom, political platform, local hotspot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.

The very best variety acts from all around the world do their awe inspiring and death defying performances for an audience of children (aged 6+) and their families…but without the rude bits! 

Louise Jameson and Thomas Mahy star in Robert Chevara’s acclaimed production of Philip Ridley’s Vincent River.
Davey has seen something he can never forget. Anita has been forced to flee her home. Tonight, they meet for the first time... and their lives will change forever.
Philip Ridley’s modern classic was a huge success when it premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 2001, and a West End smash at Trafalgar Studios in 2007. This year, it returns to Studio 2 as a new production direct from the Park Theatre.
Thrilling, heartbreaking and darkly humorous by turns, it is now seen as one of the most powerful explorations of hate crime - and society’s need to crush ‘difference’ - ever written.

Amber and Tom are in the first year at their elite American university. Their paths cross and they connect in ways that seem innocent enough at first. But after they hook up at a party and spend the night together things start to become more clouded. They agree on the drinking, they agree on the attraction, but what actually happened between them?

This deeply felt, funny and thought-provoking play comes from the award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51). With wit and urgency, ACTUALLY investigates the highly charged topic of sexual consent, the complex intersection of race and gender politics, our crippling desire to fit in, and the three sides to every story.

“Undeniably funny, poignant and profound”- New York Magazine

“Gripping. Beautifully rendered and complex” - LA Times

“Explosive, timely and riveting”- The Boston Globe

Approaching group rituals from two different angles, Phoenix Dance Theatre presents an energetic double-bill of reinventions.

In a small Nigerian town Ben, Obembe and their two older brothers slip away to fish at a forbidden river. Unnoticed and carefree they continue until the prophecy of a madman changes the course of their lives forever.

Based on the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel by one of Africa's major new voices, New Perspectives’ critically acclaimed award-winning production of Chigozie Obioma’s powerful allegory of brotherhood, vengeance and fate adapted by Gbolahan Obisesan arrives in the West End for the first time.

Join us this summer for an outdoor promenade performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the beautiful grounds of St Paul’s Church in the heart of Covent Garden.

Amid the rubble of the old politics a populist King rose to power, promising a return to England’s golden age. But now he is dead, murdered; and in the following bloodbath his brother has seized the throne.  

A masked figure has been seen, stalking the shadows. There is whisper of a resistance, gathering in the dark.

To be or not to be, that is the question - but can the nation’s heir, Hamlet, find the answers?

Uphold the state; or join the rebels?

Be ready to choose in this thrilling contemporary production of Shakespeare’s greatest play. 

This vibrant, outdoor production of Victor Hugo’s epic tale of injustice, survival and love will be a spectacular adventure for all the family.

ZooNation’s smash-hit sensation Some Like It Hip Hop thrilled audiences and critics when it opened in 2011, prompting five-star reviews and standing ovations with its infectious “wit, heart and magnificent energy” (The Independent).

It's May 1997. Tony Blair has won the election and Katrina and the Waves have won Eurovision. The iPhone doesn't exist, no one knows who Harry Potter is and Titanic is on the shelves of every Blockbuster. Britain is the coolest place in the world.
 
At the local secondary school, it's a different story. It's the last week of term and Tobias, the new German language assistant has just arrived in the UK. While political change occurs outside of the classroom, a revolution slowly starts to take place within it. Tobias is greeted by a group of eccentric schoolteachers just trying to make it through the day, including Miss Belltop-Doyle who can't control her year 10s and Mr Pashley who is trying to keep a confiscated Tamagotchi alive.
 
This whip-smart show is a love letter to education in the 90s and is jam-packed with more hits than ‘Now That’s What I Call 1997’ including Oasis, Katrina and the Waves, The Spice Girls. Crammed with Teletubbies references, jokes about Take That and the Macarena, Education Education Education is the new must see comedy of 2019 and plays a strictly limited 4 week season at the Trafalgar Studios.

Message In A Bottle is the spectacular new dance-theatre show from triple Olivier Award nominee, Kate Prince to the iconic hits of music superstar, Sting including Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Walking on the Moon, Fields of Gold, Englishman In New York and Shape of My Heart.

A village alive with joyous celebrations is suddenly under siege. Everything changes forever. Determined and daring, three parted siblings step out on their own extraordinary adventures. With a mix of exhilarating dance styles, dazzling footwork and breathtaking athleticism set to the music of Sting, Message In A Bottle tells a vital and uplifting story of humanity and hope.

Message In A Bottle is the latest masterpiece from the ground-breaking creator behind Some Like it Hip Hop, Into The Hoods, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (choreography) and SYLVIA, and features the astonishing talents of dance storytelling powerhouse, ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company.

Direct from a sold-out season at Kiln Theatre the five star, hit play, The Son, transfers to the Duke of York’s theatre for ten weeks only from 24 August.
 
Written by the internationally acclaimed Florian Zeller, lauded by The Guardian as ‘the most exciting playwright of our time’, The Son is directed by the award-winning Michael Longhurst and forms the final part of the critically acclaimed trilogy with The Father and The Mother.
 
I’m telling you. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.
 
Nicolas is going through a difficult phase after his parents’ divorce. He’s listless, skipping school, lying and thinks that moving in with his father and his new family may help. A fresh start. When he doesn’t settle there either, he decides that going back to his mother’s may be the answer. When change feels like the only way to survive, what will he do when the options begin to run out?

Go and get two bicycle-wheels.’

‘There are no more bicycle-wheels.’

‘What have you done with your bicycle?’

‘I never had a bicycle.’

Nothing stirs outside. In a bare room, Hamm, an old, blind tyrant, is locked in a stalemate with his servant Clov. Interrupted only by the nostalgic musings of Hamm’s ancient, dustbin-dwelling parents, this bleakly funny double act cling stubbornly to their routine of casual savagery and mutual dependence.

Richard Jones (The Hairy Ape, Into the Woods) directs Beckett’s macabre comedy in which hope and cruelty are the last things to die.

Endgame will be presented in a double bill with Samuel Beckett’s rarely seen short play Rough for Theatre II, performed by members of the company.

A shocking assassination in the heart of London. In a bizarre mix of high-stakes global politics and radioactive villainy, a man pays with his life.

At this time of global crises and a looming new Cold War, A Very Expensive Poison sends us careering through the shadowy world of international espionage from Moscow to Mayfair.

John Crowley (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) directs Lucy Prebble’s (The Effect, ENRON) reimagining of Luke Harding’s jaw-dropping exposé of the events behind the notorious death of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.