Autumn theatre: London 2020 highlights

Sleepless, A Musical Romance, Troubadour Wembley Park

From a radio helpline to an Empire State Building rendezvous, it doesn't get much more romantic than 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle. Now Nora Ephron's classic love story comes to life as a new stage musical. Sleepless, A Musical Romance has its world premiere at the Troubadour Wembley Park this summer, following a delay caused by the Covid lockdown.

Death of England: Delroy, National Theatre

After five months spent dormant due to Covid-19, the National Theatre is coming back to life with its first live performance since lockdown began. Creatives Clint Dyer and Roy Williams have spent lockdown devising a BLM-focused follow-up to their acclaimed Death of England, starring Giles Terera (Hamilton).

Talking Heads Live, Bridge Theatre

The Bridge Theatre will reopen at reduced capacity for a season of 12 monologues. In keeping with the government's phased return to live performance, the theatre plans to use its flexible auditorium to create 250 socially distanced seats and to limit the risk to performers by sticking to one-person plays.

Alan Bennett's revamped Talking Heads monologues, which were remade during lockdown for the BBC, will come to the stage to form the core of the new season. Nine of the 12 short dramas will return to their theatrical roots as actors including Tamsin Greig, Kristin Scott Thomas, Imelda Staunton and Lucian Msamati bring back live performance.

Beat the Devil, Bridge Theatre

Prolific playwright Sir David Hare has chronicled his own experience of coping with the Covid-19 crisis in a monologue that will open as part of a new season of monologues at the Bridge Theatre, starring Ralph Fiennes.

C-o-n-t-a-c-t: socially distanced outdoor theatre experience

Grab your headphones and tune into a powerful new theatre experience as C-o-n-t-a-c-t uses 3D sound design to create a socially distanced and immersive show about mental health.

The pertinent story revolves around an unexpected encounter that leads a woman to question her own mental wellbeing. Over 50 minutes, innovative sound technology and traditional live performance synchronise spectators with actors, bringing the narrative to life in new and unexpected ways.

Romantics Anonymous, Bristol Old Vic

Wise Children has announced the company is making its post-Covid return this autumn with a revival of its 2017 hit show Romantics Anonymous. The live production is being broadcast from the stage of an empty Bristol Old Vic theatre, and will be made available for audiences to stream from home.

Birmingham Royal Ballet LIVE at Sadler's Wells

One for the dance crowd: live ballet returns to Sadler's Wells this autumn with socially distanced performances of Birmingham Royal Ballet's Lazuli Sky triple bill. Under the command of newly minted artistic director Carlos Acosta, BRB has collaborated with the small Birmingham Repertory Theatre in order to pull off the live show, premiering it at Birmingham Rep before bringing it to London in October.