Returning for 2020: West End shows to book now

At last, some good news for theatreland: Nimax Theatres is reopening all six of its West End venues this October, seeing half a dozen of the city’s best-loved shows back onto the stage. With two contemporary musicals, comedies, a perennially popular murder mystery and a sell-out one-man-show on the roster, there are plays to appeal to all tastes. Here are the shows to book now and take your seats for soon.

The six wives of Henry VIII are pop princesses in Six: The Musical

Six: The Musical, Lyric Theatre

'Divorced, beheaded, died'… we all know how the marital history of Henry VIII goes. But the six wives are fed up of being ‘just one word in a stupid rhyme’. In Six: The Musical, they take to the stage to tell their own stories, through the medium of majestic pop songs. A socially distanced revival of the phenomenally successful musical is showing at the West End's Lyric Theatre this autumn.

WHEN

14 November 2020 – 31 January 2021, times vary

WHERE

Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ES

Noah Thomas in Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre

Teen drag queen musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie is a young, fun and fresh celebration of being a little bit different. Based on a true story told in 2011 in the BBC documentary Jamie: A Drag Queen at 16, it follows a teenager who doesn't fit in. Jamie is openly gay – and adept at dealing with the school bully's homophobic taunts. But when your career options are, apparently, limited to prison guard or forklift truck operator, how do you reveal a preference for high heels, short skirts and glitter?

WHEN

11 November 2020 – 10 January 2021, 7:30pm – 10pm

WHERE

Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7ES

Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt live in the West End

Adam Kay: This is Going to Hurt, Apollo Theatre

Adam Kay lifted the lid on the pressures faced by doctors and other NHS staff with his darkly funny, best-selling memoir This is Going to Hurt. The junior doctor-turned-writer and comedian is telling his story live in front of a socially distanced audience this autumn, as the stand-up version of his story makes a timely return to the West End.

WHEN

22 October – 8 November, 8pm Thursday – Saturday; 7pm Sunday

WHERE

Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ES

The Play That Goes Wrong, Duchess Theatre

You are cordially invited to join the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they put on a 1920s murder mystery. Yet, as the title promises, The Play That Goes Wrong captures a cast of bungling thespians as their dramatic plans descend into disaster. Mischief Theatre Company's farcical tale of theatrical disaster is another to have been given the green light to continue delighting on the West End.

WHEN

18 October – 30 November, 7:30pm

WHERE

Duchess Theatre, 3-5 Catherine Street, London WC2B 5LA

The Mousetrap, St Martin's Theatre

Agatha Christie’s acclaimed murder mystery play The Mousetrap is the longest running West End show. It opened in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre before transferring to its current home of St Martin’s Theatre in 1974, where it ran continuously until the Covid-19 outbreak in March. Book now to see this perennially popular whodunnit with its infamous climactic twist.

WHEN

23 October – 28 March 2021

WHERE

St Martin’s Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9NZ

L-R - Bryony Corrigan (Spitzmaus), Henry Shields (Sophisticato) and Nancy Zamit (Bear) in Magic Goes Wrong. Photo credit Robert Day

Magic Goes Wrong, Vaudeville Theatre

Mischief Theatre continues its reign with a madcap take on traditional tricks, acrobatics and sleights of hand. Magic Goes Wrong revolves around a special gala magic show, raising money for disasters in magic.

WHEN

15 November 2020 – 10 January 2021, 7:30pm

WHERE

Vaudeville Theatre, 404 Strand, London WC2R 0NH