Winter rolls on, but lucky for us, London is the perfect place to forget that. The West End is full of some of the best theatres in the world, and new plays are coming to the capital all the time.
If you’re looking for ways to bring some colour into the grey months before the sun comes out once more, London’s theatre schedule does not disappoint.
Whether you’re looking for something to do for Valentine’s Day, or just to spend an evening with friends, here’s what’s new – and what to book now.
Dracula at the Noël Coward Theatre
One actor, one Dracula and twenty-two other supporting characters: what could be better? Fresh from her star turn in Wicked, Cynthia Erivo gets ready to flex her acting chops as she takes on this mammoth role.
Details on the plot are light, but it looks like we’ll be heading inside Dracula’s castle after centuries. Kip Williams, who directed Sarah Snook in the one-woman production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, is behind this adaptation, so expect plenty of visual trickery.
February 4 — May 30 2026; get tickets here
Deep Azure at the Globe
The late actor Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020, was also an accomplished playwright. His 2005 play Deep Azure is finally making its UK premiere at the Globe, directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu.
Boseman originally wrote it as a poem, memorialising his college friend Prince Jones, who was killed by police in 2000. It tells the story of a man named Deep, who is also murdered by the police, and how his fiancé, Azure (Selina Jones), and their friends struggle to find peace as they navigate grief, love and loss together.
Blending the poetry of Shakespeare and the rhythm of hip-hop, it promises to offer a powerful account of police brutality.
February 7 — April 11 2026; get tickets here
Our Town at the Rose Theatre
Nothing is ever as it seems, not even a seemingly boring life in a small town.
Michael Sheen plays the lead in this take on Thornton Wilder’s 1938 play, where the sleepy fictional town of Grover’s Corners has been transposed from Massachusetts to Wales. “It’s a play that compels us to celebrate the everyday, to hold the ones we cherish,” says Sheen.
It’s transferring from the Welsh National Theatre to the Rose Theatre in Kingston.
February 26 — March 28; get tickets here
Sweetmeats at the Bush Theatre
Who said romance can’t start at a Type 2 diabetes workshop?
In the debut performance of Karim Khan’s play, South Asian elders Liaquat (Rehan Sheikh) and Hema (Shobu Kapoor) find love in an unlikely setting — at an age when they had written off romance.
Natasha Kathi-Chandra, artistic director of the Tara Theatre, directs.
February 7 — March 21; tickets available here
Marie and Rosetta at Soho Place
You’ve heard of the King of Rock, but what about the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll? Step forward, Beverly Knight.
Set against the backdrop of 1946 Mississippi, Marie and Rosetta is a two-hander between Sister Rosetta (Knight) and her singing partner Marie Knight (Ntombizodwa Ndlovu). Their electric guitar-infused gospel shook audiences when they took it on a tour of the Southern US.
Tune in for foot-stomping classics, including gospel hits Didn’t it Rain and Peace in the Valley.
February 28 - April 11; buy tickets here
Broken Glass at the Young Vic
Arthur Miller’s play has rarely felt so prescient. Set in Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1930s under the shadow of rising fascism, Broken Glass follows housewife Sylvia Gellburg (Pearl Chanda) as she becomes obsessed with the violence targeting Jewish communities in Germany.
While others seem to turn a blind eye, Sylvia’s obsession begins to seep into all aspects of her life, as she develops paralysis and cracks in her marriage begin to show.
It’s directed by Jordan Fein, who recently wowed audiences with his revival of Fiddler on the Roof and Into the Woods.
February 21 - April 18 2026; buy tickets here
