Going Out: What To See On The West End This Season
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4 weeks ago
Book your tickets to these showstoppers
It’s officially 2026, which means there’s a whole year of fantastic theatre ahead. In fact winter is the perfect time to escape the dreary weather and cosy up in one of London’s historic venues (which often get too hot to handle come summer). From spellbinding musicals to a multimedia one woman show, here are nine shows to have on your radar in 2026.
Best London Theatre To See In 2026
(© Johan Persson)
Into The Woods
Stephen Sondheim’s spellbinding fairytale musical Into the Woods landed in London for the first time in a decade at the end of 2025, helmed by Olivier winning Fiddler on the Roof director Jordan Fein. Soon after, the five-star reviews started rolling in, cementing this musical’s reputation as a spellbinding classic. Expect stunning costumes, detailed set design and captivating performances from a stellar cast.
Details: Until 18 April 2026 at the Bridge Theatre (3 Potters Flds Pk, London SE1 2SG). Tickets start at £25pp.
Ballet Shoes
Following a cracking run last Christmas, Kendall Fever’s playful Ballet Shoes adaptation is another play that returned at the end of 2025 with a run spilling into 2026. Breathing fresh life into Noel Streatfeild’s beloved novel, we meet Pauline, Petrova and Posy, three adopted sisters living in their crumbling house under the watchful gaze of their guardian Sylvia, Nana and some unlikely lodgers.
Details: Until 21 February 2026 at the National Theatre (Southbank, London SE1 9PX). Tickets start at £25pp.
Arcadia
One of Britain’s most playful playwrights Tom Stoppard passed away at the end of November 2025, so there’s no better time, really, to snap up some tickets to his masterwork Arcadia which is set to open at The Old Vic this month. Staged in the round, Carrie Cracknell directs what has been called an ‘ingenious and frisky masterpiece’ by the theatre’s artist director Matthew Warchus. Set in a country house, Arcadia jumps between characters two centuries apart: a teenage prodigy discovering the mathematics of the universe, and scholars chasing the ghosts of her household.
Details: 24 January to 21 March 2026 at The Old Vic (103 The Cut, London SE1 8NB). Tickets start at £13pp.
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Cynthia Erivo in rehearsals for Dracula. (© Danny Kaan)
Dracula
The writer-director behind Olivier-winning The Picture of Dorian Gray returns to the West End this winter with none other than Wicked star Cynthia Erivo in tow. Following a stellar premiere down under (where local Zahra Newman took the lead role), Erivo has 23 roles to play with in this one-woman, multimedia rendition of Dracula, a pulse-quickening, tongue-in-cheek reimagination of the vampire classic. This includes Jonathan Harker, Mina, Van Helsing, Dr Jack Seward and of course the undead himself, Count Dracula – a phantom emerging from the shadows and setting his sight on a new target.
Details: 4 February to 30 May 2026 at the Noel Coward Theatre (85-88 St Martin’s Ln, London WC2N 4AU). Tickets start at £30pp.
Shadowlands
Based on a true story, Shadowlands is one of the West End’s most uplifting plays to know this season, starring Hugh Bonneville in the leading role as reclusive author CS Lewis. Best known for penning The Chronicles of Narnia, when orderly academic Lewis met spirited American poet Joy Davidman, his life would change forever. Expect a powerful tale of unexpected love and the fragile beauty of life.
Details: 5 February to 9 May 2026 at Aldwych Theatre (49 Aldwych, London WC2B 4DF). Tickets start at £30pp.
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Kinky Boots
Kinky Boots struts back onto London’s West End later this year, with Johannes Radebe and Matt Cardle breathing new life into pop icon Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein’s beloved and uplifting musical. Directed by Nikolai Foster, we meet the down-on-his-luck Charlie Price struggling to keep his family’s failing shoe factory afloat. Saving the company feels like an impossibly tall order – until larger-than-life drag queen Lola walks in with the unlikeliest of answers.
Details: 17 March to 11 July 2026 at the London Coliseum (St Martin’s Ln, London WC2N 4ES). Tickets start at £23.75.
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Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner join forces at the National Theatre this spring as director Marianne Elliott brings Christopher Hampton’s celebrated adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’ scandalous classic novel back to the British stage. Set amid the glittering salons of the super-rich where reputation is everything, Les Liaisons Dangereuses follows the strategically seductive Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont as their alliance collapses into rivalry.
Details: 21 March to 6 June 2026 at the National Theatre (Southbank, London SE1 9PX). Remaining tickets start at £72pp.
Grace Pervades
Ralph Fiennes is back on the London stage, this time in a new play by David Hare and directed by Jeremy Herrin after a sell-out run at the Theatre Royal Bath. Fiennes stars as Sir Henry Irving – history’s first knighted actor and the greatest star of the Victorian stage – opposite Miranda Raison as Ellen Terry, England’s highest paid actress recruited by Irving to join his renowned company, the Lyceum Theatre. It’s a love letter to theatre, detailing how their relationship would alter its course forever.
Details: 24 April to 11 July 2026 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (Haymarket, London SW1Y 4HT). Tickets start at £30pp.
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Beetlejuice
After debuting on Broadway way back in 2019, the Beetlejuice musical is finally set to possess the London stage this summer, based on Tim Burton’s spooky movie of the same name. We centre on unusual teenager Lydia Deetz who lives in an even more unusual house, haunted as it is by a pair of newlydeads. Perfect for any fans of Wednesday.
Details: 20 May 2026 to 17 April 2027 at the Prince Edward Theatre (Old Compton St, London W1D 4HS). Tickets start at £30pp.
