The best new theatre shows: London 2024
From long-awaited stage adaptations of cult movies to rare appearances from famous faces, we round up the best plays 2024 is promising
The Hills of California, Harold Pinter Theatre
Playwright Jez Butterworth reunites with director Sam Mendes (The Lehman Trilogy, The Motive and the Cue) to bring his new play The Hills of California to the West End stage. While the title alludes to Hollywood glamour (and indeed the Johnny Mercer song of the same name), Butterworth's story is in fact set in the British seaside town of Blackpool. It's the long, hot summer of 1976, and two sisters have returned to their dying mother's run-down guest house one last time.
Read more ...Long Day’s Journey into Night, Wyndham’s Theatre
Director Jeremy Herrin (Best of Enemies, People, Places and Things) brings a fresh take on Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Long Day’s Journey into Night to the stage – with Succession’s Brian Cox leading the cast as the story’s patriarch, James Tyrone.
Read more ...Matt Smith in An Enemy of the People, Duke of York's Theatre
We last saw him on stage in 2019, when he reunited with his co-star from The Crown Claire Foy for a revival of Duncan Macmillan's play Lungs. Now, the former face of Doctor Who is returning to theatre to star in a West End production of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People.
Read more ...Just For One Day, Old Vic Theatre
1985's world-famous Live Aid concert is reimagined at the Old Vic as a musical, Just For One Day. Written by John O'Farrell (Mrs. Doubtfire) and directed by Luke Sheppard (Little Big Things, & Juliet), it comes to the stage with the blessing of Bob Geldof himself, organiser of the famous charity concert.
Read more ...The Picture of Dorian Gray, Theatre Royal Haymarket
Succession's Sarah Snook is swapping her ruthless role in the Roy family's media empire to play all 26 characters in Oscar Wilde's frequently referenced story about an eternally youthful man about town, with a portrait ageing up in his attic.
Read more ...Hello Dolly!, London Palladium
Multi Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning star Imelda Staunton follows in the footsteps of Barbara Steisand to play Dolly Levi, the meddlesome socialite at the heart of 1964 musical, Hello Dolly!. Postponed since 2020 because of the pandemic, this new production is directed by Dominic Cooke, who worked with Staunton in the National Theatre's superlative revival of Follies.
Read more ...Player Kings, Noël Coward Theatre
The great Ian McKellen is showing no signs of slowing down, and 2024 brings another chance to see him live on stage. He's playing Falstaff in visionary director Robert Icke's new take on Shakespeare's Henry IV, that brings together parts 1 and 2.
Read more ...St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4AU
Indira Varma and Ralph Fiennes in Macbeth, Dock X
Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma (The Seagull, Faith Healer) front Simon Godwin's site-specific production of Macbeth, which comes to the vast warehouse that is Dock X in Canada Water following runs in Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Read more ...Mean Girls, Savoy Theatre
In the same year that promises a reboot of the 2004 film, Broadway's Tony-nominated Mean Girls Musical is coming to the West End. Tina Fey, who scripted the original movie (and wrote the book on which it's based), is behind the play's script, lending it an authentic through-line. The show reportedly goes heavy on all the catchphrases and caustic comedy we know and love, while slyly updating the story to an age of social media. And there's a peppy selection of original songs by composer Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin.
Read more ...Steve Coogan in Doctor Strangelove, Noel Coward Theatre
Steve Coogan, who most famously gave us Alan Partridge, is reuniting with his frequent collaborator Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Thick of It) for a hotly anticipated stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 war comedy, Dr. Strangelove. The production marks the first time the Kubrick estate has allowed a stage adaptation of any of his films. The play is set to come to the West End stage in autumn 2024, with Sean Foley in the director's chair.
Read more ...Sheridan Smith in Opening Night, Gielgud Theatre
Sheridan Smith returns to the West End to star in Rufus Wainwright's new musical Opening Night, based on John Cassavetes' 1977 film. Ivo van Hove directs the production, and has written the book to accompany Wainwright's music and lyrics.
Read more ...Sarah Jessica Parker in Plaza Suite, Savoy Theatre
And just like that… Sarah Jessica Parker makes her West End debut, starring opposite her real-life husband Matthew Broderick in Neil Simon’s 1968 rom-com Plaza Suite. Broderick is a stage star in his own right, but perhaps more widely known for playing the titular character in hit 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Read more ...The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre
Mean Girls isn't the only chick flick coming to the stage repackaged as a musical in 2024. Cult 2006 hit The Devil Wear's Prada is also heading for the West End. Thrillingly, it's been given an original score by Sir Elton John, with lyrics by Shaina Taub and a book by Kate Wetherhead. Steering it onto stage, meanwhile, is Tony-winning director Jerry Mitchell.
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