What theatre productions are you looking forward to booking for 2026?

[FatCatSkinnyRat]

My DH and I have started going to the theatre Saturday matinees more regularly now our kids are older teens and we can leave them home alone on Saturday afternoons!!

We have booked Dracula so far as Australian friends have raved about it but wondering what else is coming out that people are excited about?

@Florencesndzebedee he said it was a case of coming back too soon not fully recovered from a cold, so I would hope by next week he'll be over it 🙏

Report back when you've seen it, it's such a force of nature!

Saw Paranormal Activity last night. Really enjoyed it. Quite a few jumpy moments and the effects were very well done. A fair few how did they do that moments as well. Story took a little while to build up especially first half but once it did..something different as well really.

Looking to see Paddington but wait until the prices drop a little which looks more later on the year/booking in advance

My son's friend has just been announced to join the cast of Paranormal Activity. I'd not heard of it before.

Hadestown is brilliant.. seen it twice!

Yes, I enjoyed Hadestown too. Ds has seen it about 4-5 times.

If you get a chance to see All My Sons then I would thoroughly recommend. I got tickets right up in the gods for about £40 but the view was great and I quite like the view of looking down and in to a play. Anyway I would rather see 5 things at £40 than 1 at £200.
Bryan Cranston was superb but I have to say Marianne Jean-Baptiste gave such a powerful performance and Tom Glynn-Carney, although, not a huge role was brilliant as George Deever. I've seen many versions over the years but this really did feel current and important in today's world.
They have filmed it for The National Theatre Live so hopefully many more people will get to see it.

I'm off to see Les Mis tonight. Can't wait. I've seen lots of televised concert performances etc but only actually seen it live once and that was 30 years ago.

The Titanic Experience
Lord of The Dance
The Steamie
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Goldilocks (Panto)

Also Stuart Mitchell

All in Aberdeen

This is a theatre thread so you should probably start you own thread with opera questions before someone tells us off from the Thread Police.

Personally, I'd say if you are interested there is absolutely no point in having a first experience via streaming as it will probably put you off. If you've ever watched filmed theatre, you understand the difference vs live theatre and what is missing. Opera is a billion times worse in what is lost.

One of the amazing things about opera is watching the extraordinary powerful and beautiful sound come out of a single human. You just don't get the same feeling as being there - plus the Royal Opera House (expensive but worth it for the right production) is an extraordinarily beautiful space and the production values are brilliant. There are other threads in CV about getting tickets more cheaply.

Most opera will have a good detailed synopsis in the programme - read it in the bar beforehand with a glass of fizz. Many theatres will have surtitles in English - the ROH does - that maybe a better choice for you ironically than ENO sung in English.

Thank you, I wasn't intending to derail the thread, opera could be said to be in a category of theatre. I haven't decided about the cinema stream yet but take the points about the live experience being totally different. I have enjoyed ballet cinema streams though, you get a different perspective with close-ups etc.

Edited to add - subtitle vs English translation point especially useful, I find subtitles very helpful when watching films on TV

I've just booked. There were no cheaps seats, so this will be at the expense of seeing three other productions. I hope it's worth it!

ETA. Are you sure about the NT Live filming? There was a 2019 National Theatre production of All My Sons that was filmed - are you thinking of that?

@GCAcademic That was the version with Sally Field I think, I saw that in the cinema a few years ago. This is definitely the Bryan Cranston version. In cinemas from 16th April.

National Theatre Live | Official website | Filmed live theatre

I hope you really enjoy it. Just be aware that it runs right through with no interval and you might not be readmitted if you leave so make sure you go to the loo beforehand!

If ‘Dear England’ is coming to a theatre near you then book it now! Saw it yesterday, it was superb. And no, you don’t have to like or know much about football to enjoy it.

Oh really thats cool. I heard about it years ago and it was opened in Leeds and then London for 4 months. Not much to do with the films at all but the staging was so clever!

She was in the original Leeds production apparently. Thinking about it I seem to remember ds telling me he had gone to see it.

Twelfth Night at the Barbican this weekend with preshow talk and the Tempest at RSC with postshow talk in June. Dh is a friend of ROH so also have a couple of ballet and opera performances. Hope to catch AvenueQ and Paddington with dd later in the year.

How old is DD? No judgement but if she’s a kid (eg interested in Paddington) then Avenue Q is… spicy! I saw it first time round and live action puppet sex has never quite left my brain. It’s brilliant though!

I didn't think it was a derail. I was reading with interest. Having looked it up, opera is described/defined as a form of theatre.

24! I think she’d cope!

Haha! In that case accept my apologies for pearl clutching!

At the moment, have tickets for Les Liasions, John Proctor and two Stoppards to aid us through our mourning process: Arcadia and also Indian Ink at the Hampstead Theatre with felicity Kendal. Excited for all, especially Liaisons as have been obsessed with that book since a teen.
Will probably book some more soon, so following this thread with interest!

Another slight derail. Do any of you have ATG membership and do you find it's worth it? My nearest regional theatre is ATG and I go 3 or 4 x a year but also sometimes go to those in London.

Anyone wanting to see Operation Mincemeat in London, sign up for the ballot, which gives access to £30 tickets when your name comes out of the hat. Based on my experience you should get pulled out every 4-6 months at least.

Anyone know if Dear England will come back to London after the tour (I know the tour includes Wimbledon but that is the wrong side for me). I want to take DS but am waiting until he is 10 as I am a bit worried about some of the language (should I be?)

Honestly, I would go all in and just book a ticket for the theatre. Opera is immersive, you lose a lot with it being on screen. Everyone has surtitles these days, you literally get the text beamed up above the stage for you, you don't need to know it beforehand. And most opera stories are high melodrama nonsense anyway, when all's said and done.

I'd find something with some good strong tunes in a location that you can get to, and go. La boheme, turandot, Carmen, madame butterfly, la traviata ... if you're in England one of them will be playing within 150 miles of you this year, these are all staples of opera company repertoire and for good reason - they've got gorgeous big tunes that everyone has heard somewhere, and they're beautiful and will transport an audience to a magical place, time after time.

All the major opera companies have cheap seats and initiatives with reduced price tickets for young people/people new to opera/people on low incomes - you might be surprised, it can work out barely more expensive to see an actual in house performance than paying screening prices.

Good to see The Producers getting a nice remark on here. I'm off to see it next month. Hoping it's a suitable antidote to our rather puritanical times.

Am interested in Spy Who Came In From The Cold. One of my all time favourite books/movies and it's appropriate for now, I think. Le Carre seems to be having a bit of a moment, Zeitgeist wise.

I am tempted by Arcadia but I saw the original (I am very very old) so don't know if I could.