[title]
Today the National Theatre held its annual press conference, at which artistic director Indhu Rubasingham laid out all (or most of) her 2027 programming, and as usual there’s some pretty exciting stuff.
It’s hard to know where to begin exactly, but let’s start with probably the splashiest news: next winter the NT will revive Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story (winter 2027), the first major London production of their all time classic New York gangland take on Romeo & Juliet. It will be directed by Marianne Elliott - hopefully fresh off eventual triumph for her troubled revival of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George - alongside Miranda Cromwell, who partnered with Elliott on the Young Vic’s superb Death of a Salesman a few years back.
Speaking of Death of a Salesman: as flagged up last year, the Arthur Miller classic will be revived next autumn, with Paul Mescal starring as the troubled Biff. We’ve got some more information now, notably that in a pretty remarkable coup, the legendary US actor and playwright Tracy Letts (most famous for his soon-to-be-revived August: Osage County) will make his UK stage debut in Rebecca Frecknall’s production, playing the title role of Willy Loman. The show will play in rep with a production of Tom Murphy’s epic crime drama A Whistle in the Dark, also starring Mescal. Rep, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the system whereby several plays are in a theatre’s repertoire at the same time, playing different days across the week. Pre-pandemic it used to be the way the National Theatre programmed all of its plays but it was abandoned to save money: Rubasingham indicated that the hope is Death of a Salesman/A Whistle in the Dark will be a precursor to bringing it back properly.
Lots of shows were newly announced today. On the NT’s biggest stage the Olivier, West Side Story will be joined by a rare revival of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer (Feb 19-Apr 24 2027), starring Emma Corrin, Arty Froushan and Harriet Walter, directed by the great Michael Grandage. After that… a drama about John Major! Don’t worry, though: you’re in safe hands with superstar playwright James Graham who reunites with Jeremy Herrin – the director of Graham’s breakthrough smash This House – for Major (spring/summer 2027), a drama about Major’s rise from whip to PM and his pivotal role in Britain’s relationship with Europe. That’ll be followed by The Great Indaba (autumn 2027), Moira Buffini’s new drama about how the Good Friday Agreement took shape at an extraordinary meeting in South Africa between Nelson Mandela’s new National Unity Government and the bitter political rivals in Northern Ireland.
In the middle-sized Lyttelton, playwright Natasha Gordon will adapt Bernadine Evaristo’s novel Mr Loverman (Feb 25-Apr 17 2027), starring Danny Sapiani as Barry, a charming pillar of the Black Hackney community who has been in a clandestine relationship with his best friend Morris (Gary Beadle) for the last 60 years. The great Paulette Randall will direct. That’ll be followed by a major fiftieth anniversary revival of David Hare’s classic drama of post-World War 2 disillusionment Plenty (spring 2027), which will star Game of Thrones icon Emilia Clarke. It’ll be followed by the Death of a Salesman/A Whistle in the Dark rep season (summer/autumn 2027) and then the year ends with a major revival of the late Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (winter 2027) that’ll star Mawaan Rizwan and George Fouracres in the title roles.
The small Dorfman will kick off its year with Carmen Nasr’s previously-announced Samira (Feb 4-Mar 13 2027), a provocative play about the Arab Spring led by Marvel star May El Calamawy in the title role. Next up, and following the enormous success of this summer’s Pride, another big musical will debut in the smallest theatre: Glorious Madness (spring 2027) is a new show that tells an original love story based on the songs of Joan Armatrading. It’s written by Iman Qureshi and directed by heavyweight Phyllida Lloyd, who did the honours for West End smashes Mamma Mia! and Tina. The last show to be staged is The Adeyemis – A Family Saga (winter 2027), a new play by British Nigerian writer Oladipo Agboluaje, a drama set it a turbulent phase in Nigeria’s history adapted from Agboluaje’s 1997 play The First Wife. It’ll be directed by the great actor Lucian Msamati in his directorial debut, and will star Orange Is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba.
Finally, immersive theatre legends Punchdrunk will stage a new show called Ghostlight (summer/autumn 2027). We don’t know a huge amount about it other than it’ll be ‘curated’ by playwright Lucy Kirkwood. Intriguingly last year when announced as an untitled project it was billed as being staged at the Dorfman, whereas now it doesn’t officially have a venue – Rubasingham was coy about what this meant at the launch, but one assumes it’ll be staged throughout the NT building.
And that’s that for the National Theatre 2027 – you can expect some big name casting and perhaps the odd extra show to come, but it’s pretty much laid out for us.
Suddenly Last Summer, Mr Loverman and Carmen will go on sale at noon on Sep 24. The rest will be announced later, probably in early 2027.
The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2026 and 2027.
Teri Hatcher will star as Miranda Priestley in the Devil Wears Prada musical.