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London theatre is basically busy all year round (except for a bit in the summer), but the autumn – which for the purpose of argument I’m going to call October and November – is a head-spinningly brisk time for new shows and a launching pad for some truly massive production, some of which I’d imagine will still be running next autumn.
Here’s my pick of the best shows to see this autumn.
The Unbelievers
Under its current, new-ish management, the Royal Court has mixed fairly fanciful arthouse projects with the odd play that couldn’t look more like a hit if Taylor Swift took a role in it. The Unbelievers (pictured top) is one such show and frankly it looks wonderful. It’s written by Nick Payne, the playwright best known for his bittersweet multiversal love story Constellations, and it has a similarly highfalutin set up. It follows a mother whose teenage son disappeared years previously – and now she experiences every moment of each of those years all at once. I have no idea how that’s going to work, but it sounds really cool. It’s also directed by Marianne Elliott, who did the honours for smashes like War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and if that wasn’t enough it stars Nicola Walker who is frankly just awesome. It is mostly sold out (as I’m typing this there are a couple of dates at the end of the run with tickets left) but the good thing about the Royal Court is it leaves selling its Monday tickets until the day itself, so you’re always in with a chance.
Royal Court, Oct 8-Nov 28. Buy tickets here.
Othello
Back in 1997 David Harewood was the first Black British actor to play the role of Shakespeare’s Othello at the National Theatre - which was pretty late in the day all things considered but also quite a long time ago now. Enough time gone that he’s up for a second crack at the part, which is exciting stuff (I assume this also makes him the first Black British actor to play the role twice, though don’t quote me on that). Harewood is an actor of formidable presence. And equally as exciting is the fact that he’ll be partnered with Toby Jones, a brilliant actor whose many mainstream screen forays rather belie the fact that he’s tended to choose wilfully off the beaten path stage projects. He absolutely has the chops to pull this off and it’ll be a treat to see him play Shakespeare’s greatest villain Iago on a major stage. They’ll be joined by Succession’s Caitlin FitzGerald in a show directed by Tom Morris.
Theatre Royal Haymarket, Oct 23-Jan 17 2026.
The Hunger Games: On Stage
Friends of mine will attest that I have long been obsessed with the fact that in 2015 it was announced that a musical version of The Hunger Games was happening, and that it was going to be staged in a bespoke revolving theatre in Wembley. This absolutely did not happen and probably would have been a terrible idea, but I’m thrilled that the first of Susan Collins’s YA dystopian novels has almost made it to the stage. I’d be lying if I said I was a rabid fan of the books, but the prospect of the sort of massive budget, heavy on the action sequences spectacle that’s required to make The Hunger Games a live reality is mouth-watering, and the icing on the cake is that the show has been written by the great Conor McPherson, a seriously heavyweight name who should do something smart with it. Mia Carragher (pictured) gets a big break anchoring the whole thing as heroine Katniss Everdeen.
Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre, booking Oct 20-Feb 15 2026.
Paddington the Musical
I mean the name pretty much says everything you need to know here: after conquering the screen and launching a smash hit immersive attraction in London, the Paddington Bear supremacy continues with his first full-blown West End show. Potentially the biggest new British musical since before the pandemic, it’s another galaxy of talents, with direction from & Juliet and Starlight Express hitmaker Luke Shepherd and songs from Tom Fletcher of McFly and numerous scatological children’s books. The plot will be based on the first of the films – and the creatives have been remarkably coy about how Paddington himself will be depicted, so we’re expecting something pretty splashy.
Savoy Theatre, booking Nov 1-May 25 2026. Buy tickets here.
All My Sons
I wouldn’t say I have a definite ‘greatest theatre production I have ever seen’, but there’s certainly a fairly short shortlist of candidates, and Ivo van Hove’s monumental 2014 production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge is right up there. Van Hove is a mercurial director and it would be tempting fate to assume his take on All My Sons – another stone cold Miller classic – will definitely be exactly as good. But certainly the Belgian super-director gets Miller, and he has assembled as good a cast as you’ll see in a theatre all year for this revival: Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Paapa Essiedu head up the cast as a regular all American family fractured by a terrible wartime secret.
Wyndham’s Theatre, Nov 14-Mar 7 2026. Buy tickets here.
The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2025.
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