The Christmas shows
Sunday 22 to Friday 27 November · 81 performances found
Not on our dates, so not here: the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker opens at Covent Garden on 3 December, English National Ballet's at the Coliseum on 17 December, and the London Palladium's pantomime on 5 December. The Royal Albert Hall's Christmas concerts are all in December too, and The Christmas Carol Goes Wrong opens at Wyndham's on 18 December.
Day by day · every showing, Sunday 22 to Friday 27 November
Sun 22 Nov
Mon 23 Nov
Tue 24 Nov
Wed 25 Nov
Thu 26 Nov
Fri 27 Nov
12 Days
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctChickenshed's 2026 Christmas show: five children are chosen for an extraordinary festive journey through a divided world to discover the true meaning of love, learning empathy, trust, courage and belonging along the way. It is made by Chickenshed, the inclusive theatre company and charity in Southgate (Chicken Shed Theatre Trust), whose annual Christmas production is performed by a cast of nearly 800 performers of all ages and abilities split across five rota groups, with integrated British Sign Language in every performance. The official page does not name an individual writer, director or composer.
A Christmas Carol
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctJack Thorne's adaptation of Charles Dickens's novella, directed by Matthew Warchus and staged in the round with the audience wrapped around the action, has been The Old Vic's Christmas show every year since 2017 and is billed as London's longest-running adaptation; 2026 is its tenth anniversary season. Christopher Nightingale's carol arrangements, Rob Howell's lantern-lit design and the famous mince pies and bell-ringing finale make it as much a communal festive event as a ghost story. Giles Terera (Hamilton, Oh, Mary!, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) plays Scrooge in what he describes as Warchus's final year as artistic director.
A Christmas Carol (one-night) – Tama Matheson & Jayson Gillham
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA one-night recreation of Charles Dickens's own celebrated dramatic readings of A Christmas Carol, blending solo storytelling with live performances of well-loved Christmas music. Writer-director-actor Tama Matheson (Artistic Director of the Brisbane Shakespeare Festival, creator of the "Music-Play" format) performs the whole cavalcade of Dickens characters, with Australian-British concert pianist Jayson Gillham (ARIA-nominated for his complete Beethoven concertos) at the piano. The venue bills it as "part concert and part play" – an intimate 85-seat fringe-theatre evening rather than a West End spectacle.
A Christmas Carol performed by Mark & Oliver Dickens
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA two-man, one-hour telling of Dickens's A Christmas Carol using Dickens's own words, performed in a room modelled on his Drawing Room inside 48 Doughty Street, the house where he wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. It is performed by Oliver Dickens, an actor, and his father Mark Dickens, both direct descendants of Charles Dickens, and is the museum's annual flagship Christmas performance. The ticket includes same-day admission to the museum before the show (museum open Wed-Sun 10:00-17:00, last entry 16:00).
A Homo Alone 2: Yikes, We Did It Again!
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA camp, deliberately filthy Christmas musical parody of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Kevin is once again separated from his family and let loose in New York — billed as "the gayest place on Earth" — armed with his dad's credit card, meeting two hapless burglars, an eccentric hotel manager and a Trump cameo. It is the sequel to Homo Alone, The Other Palace Studio's five-star-reviewed Christmas 2024 hit (written by Jodie Prenger and Bobby Delaney); the sequel is written by Jodie Prenger (I'd Do Anything winner, Oliver!'s Nancy) and Neil Hurst and directed by Laura Checkley, and the producers say you need not have seen the first.
A Midsummer Night's Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA Christmas comedy from The Space's in-house company, SpaceWorks. The cast are booked to perform A Midsummer Night's Dream, but their hopeless director has also booked Santa. So they give up on Shakespeare and try to make up a whole Christmas show without rehearsal. It is packed with jokes about Die Hard, Mariah Carey, Love Actually and The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Christmas Cabaret All Stars at Maison Cabaret (Proud)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctMaison Cabaret is Alex Proud's 2026 Christmas dinner-and-show brand, successor to his Proud Cabaret / Proud Embankment supper clubs. Guests sit at their own table (never shared), eat a three-, five- or seven-course festive dinner, then watch a cabaret of burlesque, circus and live vocals — the site shows a live fire act — before DJ dancing until midnight. It runs on ten selected nights from 20 November to 19 December 2026, of which only Friday 27 November falls in our window.
Cranford
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new stage version of Elizabeth Gaskell's 1853 novel, billed by the Orange Tree as its festive show. Tamsin Greig leads an ensemble as Matty Jenkyns, at the centre of a small 1840s town run by a close circle of formidable women and their odd unwritten rules. As the modern world rushes in, the residents of Cranford face broken friendships, lost love and the struggle to keep what matters. It reunites director Josh Roche with writers Lin Coghlan and Shaun McKenna after their RSC Forsyte Saga.
Dick Whittington: Adults Only
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe King's Head Theatre's third annual adults-only panto, a filthier late-night twin of its family show Dick Whittington and His Cat, written and directed by Andrew Pollard. Queen Rat, the most powerful figure in London's sewers, plans to turn the city into her "forever darkroom", and a beaten-down Dick Whittington must find his strength to stop her and save Islington. Every performance adds a different special guest star from musical theatre or drag (past guests have included John Owen-Jones, Christina Bianco and Ella Vaday); the 2026 guest list had not been published as of 25 Oct 2026.
Ebony Scrooge
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctSadler's Wells' own Christmas show for 2026: a hip hop dance-theatre retelling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which Ebony, a nightmare-boss fashion mogul who has cancelled Christmas for her landmark fashion show, is taken on a transformative journey by three mystical visitors and rediscovers her Caribbean roots. Written, directed and choreographed by Dannielle 'Rhimes' Lecointe (ZooNation's Associate Artistic Director, who also plays Ebony) with original music by Michael 'Mikey J' Asante, it is a ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company and Sadler's Wells co-production.
It's A Wonderful Life!
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA festive radio-play version of Frank Capra's 1946 film, adapted by Anthony E. Palermo. On a freezing Christmas Eve, six actors gather round a microphone and a piano in the theatre's basement, turned into a 1940s radio studio, for a live broadcast. They tell the story of George Bailey, standing on a bridge ready to jump, and Clarence, the second-class angel trying to earn his wings by saving him. The multi-roling cast conjures the whole world with live sound effects and stagecraft.
Jonny Woo's Un-Royal Variety
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA punk pastiche of the Royal Variety Performance, created, curated and hosted by East London drag and cabaret figure Jonny Woo, with a live in-house band, a dance troupe and a rotating bill of alternative comedy, cabaret, drag, live music and underground performance art drawn from Soho Theatre's roster and Woo's own collaborators. It began at Hackney Empire (Woo's bio says he presented it there three times), relaunched at Soho Theatre Walthamstow in November 2025 after a seven-year gap, and returns in 2026 billed as celebrating ten years, opening the venue's festive season.
PULLED - The 2026 RVT Panto
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctPULLED is the Royal Vauxhall Tavern's annual adult pantomime, this year a riff on the King Arthur legend: Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Camelot, a sword in the stone, a villain to boo, lots of jokes and chart hits rewritten RVT-style. It is written by the award-winning team of Tim Benzie and Paul Joseph, directed by Tim McArthur, with musical direction by Annemarie Lewis Thomas and design by Chris Jepson. The RVT notes the panto has sold out increasingly often in recent years and advises booking ahead.
Peter Pan
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA remixed family musical take on J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan: Peter and Wendy, the Lost Boys and the fairy Tink set out to defeat Captain James Hook and stay young forever. Adapted for the stage with music by beatbox-theatre maker Conrad Murray (Pied Piper, Polka's Romeo & Juliet) and co-directed by Ria Parry and Murray, with all original songs and sounds performed live and a cappella by a company of vocalists, beatboxers and rappers. A Polka Theatre production; the full run is Sat 14 Nov 2026 to Sun 24 Jan 2027.
Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctPins and Needles' puppetry-and-music stage adaptation of Raymond Briggs' 1973 picture book about a grumpy, very ordinary Father Christmas who wakes from a dream of sun, sea and sand to find it is Christmas Eve, his busiest day: feeding the reindeer, braving sooty chimneys and bad weather, and coping with mischief from his pets Cat and Dog. Originally commissioned by the Lyric Hammersmith in 2012, it has returned there every Christmas since and toured the UK and Hong Kong; the 2026 run is the Lyric's Christmas show for under-6s in its Studio space, co-presented by Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Pins and Needles.
Robin Hood and the Merry Mandem
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctStratford East's 2026 pantomime relocates Robin Hood to present-day East London: Robin and his hoodie-wearing crew, the Merry Mandem, zip across Stratford's streets, stations, shops and estates (Maryland and the Central line included), taking from the rich, backing the poor and fending off villains who want to pack them off to the far end of the line. It is a Stratford East production with book and lyrics by Yolanda Mercy and music and lyrics by the theatre's long-time panto composer Robert Hyman, directed by Associate Artistic Director Jade Lewis, with sets and costumes by Stewart J Charlesworth and choreography by Jade Hackett.
Room on the Broom Live on Stage
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctTall Stories' Olivier Award-nominated stage adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's picture book: a witch and her cat pick up a dog, a bird and a frog on their broomstick, the broom snaps in two, and a hungry dragon appears. Songs, puppets and a four-strong cast tell it in about an hour. Directed by Olivia Jacobs with dramaturgy by Toby Mitchell, music and lyrics by Jon Fiber and Andy Shaw, design by Morgan Large and puppets by Yvonne Stone.
Santa's First Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA Unicorn Theatre production and world premiere: a dance-and-music adaptation of Mac Barnett's picture book Santa's First Christmas (illustrated by Sydney Smith), adapted by Rachel Bagshaw, Harry Blake and James Cousins, directed and choreographed by James Cousins with music and lyrics by Harry Blake. Santa spends every Christmas Eve spreading joy around the world but has never had a Christmas of his own, so his elves set out to give him the best one ever — and he discovers the true magic of Christmas for the very first time.
Santa's Secret Cabaret (The Scarlet Lotus Presents: Santa's Secret Cabaret Dinner)
confirmedA festive dinner-and-show cabaret produced by London Cabaret Collective under its 'The Scarlet Lotus Presents' banner: aerial acrobatics, circus, fire acts, burlesque and live music build through the evening to a grand finale while guests eat a three-, five- or seven-course menu at reserved theatre-style tables. It is the dining version of the company's Christmas cabaret (the same company runs The Scarlet Lotus in Holborn and a cheaper seats-only 'Santa's Secret Cabaret Show' in Soho), staged on limited dates in November and December 2026.
Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA brand-new comedy whodunnit by Humphrey Ker and David Reed (the Penny Dreadfuls; Ker is an Emmy-winning writer on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), with songs by Tim Rice and Howard Goodall, directed by Phillip Breen. It is Christmas in Victorian London and West End performers are dropping dead mid-scene; Scotland Yard sees no foul play, but Sherlock Holmes spots a link to the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas and, with Dr Watson and rival detective Athena Faversham, races to stop the killer before the body count reaches twelve.
Sophie's Surprise Christmas Party
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA riotous festive party show in which Sophie has lost her Christmas spirit and the audience throws her an outrageous bash to get it back, with one audience member crowned "Sophie" each night. Expect circus, comedy and cabaret: Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future in unlikely forms, a stripping Scrooge and a Mariah Carey moment, with no two nights the same. Created by Three Legged Race Productions (the team behind the long-running Sophie's Surprise 29th) and produced by Underbelly at its Soho venue.
The Jungle Book
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA brand-new stage adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories by Anupama Chandrasekhar (The Father and the Assassin), directed by the National's artistic director Indhu Rubasingham and staged in the 1,100-seat Olivier with large-scale puppetry by Lume (Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell), a score by Fernando Velázquez and design by Rajha Shakiry. Set in the mangroves of the Sundarbans, it follows the man-cub Mowgli, raised by wolves and schooled by Baloo and Bagheera, as the tiger Shere Khan closes in and he must work out who he is and where he belongs.
The Wind in the Willows
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Rose Theatre Kingston's 2026 Christmas family production: a new stage adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 riverbank classic by children's playwright Rob Evans, directed by Owen Horsley, best known for his work with the RSC. It follows Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mole and their showdown with the Weasels, playing in the Rose's 800-plus-seat Main Auditorium from 25 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, with our three dates being the first three preview performances of the run.
Christmas Lights
sold out✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA visual, near-wordless Christmas show for toddlers (ages 1-4) in which friends Alvie and Kit try to light up their snow-covered house before Christmas, only to find the lights have a mind of their own; it mixes twinkling lights, original music, playful performance and integrated British Sign Language, and audiences stay afterwards to play with the performers in the snowy garden. Made by Filskit Theatre Company (devised by Katy Costigan, Sarah Shephard and Victoria Dyson), originally co-produced by Z-arts and Wonder Arts, and presented at Polka Theatre's small Adventure Theatre studio.
The Great Christmas Feast
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctIt is Christmas Eve 1843 at Charles Dickens's home near Regent's Park: guests enter through a secret door for his annual feast and find the author, having roamed the City at midnight for months, about to give birth to A Christmas Carol, which he narrates around the tables while a live chamber ensemble and theatrical machines bring each passage to life.
The Nutcracker (Imperial Classical Ballet)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA touring classical staging of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker by Imperial Classical Ballet®, returning for an Autumn 2026 UK tour after what the venue describes as multiple sold-out UK tours. The official listing promises Clara's journey from the Christmas Eve party to the Kingdom of Sweets with timeless classical choreography, lavish hand-crafted costumes, large-scale sets and Tchaikovsky's score performed live by a full orchestra. It is a one-night stop at Trafalgar Entertainment's Churchill Theatre in Bromley, the only Nutcracker playing in Greater London during the 22-27 Nov window (Royal Ballet opens 3 Dec, ENB 17 Dec).
The Snowman
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe classic festive stage show based on Raymond Briggs's picture book and the Dianne Jackson film, set to Howard Blake's score including 'Walking in the Air': a boy's snowman comes to life and the two fly through the night sky, meeting Father Christmas, reindeer and a party of snow people under the Northern Lights. After 32 years of the original Birmingham Rep staging, Sadler's Wells and Birmingham Repertory Theatre present a brand-new production directed and choreographed by former Royal Ballet artist Will Tuckett, with production design by Anna Fleischle (Hangmen, Death of a Salesman), puppet design by Tahra Zafar and illusions by…
A Choral Christmas by Candlelight
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA one-hour candlelit Christmas concert in the Trafalgar Square church, hosted by the composer and conductor Bob Chilcott (former King's Singer), who introduces the inspiration, stories and craft behind writing music for Christmas. St Martin's Voices, the church's professional vocal ensemble, sings seasonal works by John Rutter, Cecilia McDowall and Lucy Walker, conducted by Andrew Earis. It is part of St Martin's "Christmas 2026" series within its 300th-anniversary Autumn/Winter 2026/27 season.
Anthony Nolan Christmas Carol Concert 2026
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctAnthony Nolan's annual fundraising carol concert in Wren's St James's Church on Piccadilly: congregational and choral carols sung by the London-based I Dodici Choir, interspersed with festive readings from 'special guests' and first-hand stories of how the charity's stem-cell transplant work changes lives. The evening ends with complimentary Prosecco and mince pies in the church, a £10 raffle (closes 21:00) and 'Light a Star' dedications. All ticket income goes to Anthony Nolan's donor-matching, patient-support and research work; it is also live-streamed for a virtual audience.
Chelsea Pensioner Singers – Festive Performances (carols)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Chelsea Pensioner Singers are a choir of army veterans who live at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Through November and December they sing traditional carols at pubs, venues and events around Chelsea and beyond. This week they sing at Aragon House in Fulham, at the opening night of the Chelsea Winter Village in the Royal Hospital's Ranelagh Gardens, and at The Phene in Chelsea. The performances support the Royal Hospital's work giving a home and care to army veterans.
Christmas Memories (Neil Sands' Christmas Cracker)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA touring festive sing-along variety show from producer-performer Neil Sands and his cast, billed as the brand-new 2026 edition of their annual "Christmas Cracker". It packs in over 60 favourite Christmas songs and carols, with costumes, falling snow and nostalgic reminiscence about Christmases past, and the audience is encouraged to sing along. The venue describes it as "Like A Sparkly Christmas Card Come To Life."
Handel's Messiah — Choir of Westminster Abbey & The English Concert
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA complete performance of Handel's 1741 oratorio Messiah, from "Comfort ye" through the Hallelujah chorus to "Worthy is the Lamb", sung in the Abbey nave by members of the Choir of Westminster Abbey (the choir that sang at Queen Elizabeth II's State Funeral and the 2023 Coronation) with The English Concert, one of Britain's leading period-instrument orchestras. Conducted by Andrew Nethsingha, the Abbey's Organist and Master of the Choristers, with four soloists. It is presented and box-officed by Sinfonia Smith Square, the week before Advent begins.
Jazz Noël
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA festive jazz concert that sets Christmas songs made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole in fresh, modern arrangements. A groove-based rhythm section and a four-piece horn section back two vocalists. The mood moves between calm, soulful winter numbers and upbeat party songs. A seasonal night out in Wilton's historic Victorian music hall.
Midwinter Revels
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctMidwinter Revels is the newest festive touring show from GreenMatthews, the duo of multi-instrumentalist Chris Green and piper/singer Sophie Matthews, following their earlier A Christmas Carol: In Concert and A Brief History of Christmas. Billed as a celebration of Yuletide past, it ranges across several centuries of Christmas carols, winter folk songs and lively dance tunes, played on a plethora of unusual period instruments (border bagpipes, shawm, rauschpfeife, musette, lutes and keys among them) and delivered with the pair's trademark humour.
St John Ambulance Christmas Concert
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA charity Christmas concert in the historic Priory Church of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell, raising money for St John Ambulance. Myleene Klass MBE hosts. Composer, pianist and tenor Camden Stewart performs, and so does the boys' vocal group Libera. Ticket holders can look round the Museum of the Order of St John and its shop from 6pm. After the concert there is a festive reception with mulled wine and mince pies.
Step Into Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA feel-good festive concert of Christmas classics, from heartwarming ballads to upbeat anthems, performed with a live band and festive visuals in Fairfield Halls' 783-seat Ashcroft Theatre. The official page says it returns 'after a sensational run' in a bigger, brighter production; the venue (operated by BH Live with Croydon Council) presents it but names no producer, performers or band.
Step Into Christmas
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA touring festive concert of Christmas classics, back for 2026 "bigger and better", built around sing-along pop and showtune favourites performed by a vocal line-up with a live band, festive visuals and seasonal staging. It is promoted by Entertainers Show Providers Limited (the venue's box-office data names them as promoter) and plays regional theatres across the UK each winter, stopping at Bromley's Churchill Theatre for two evening performances.
The Grand Order of Lady Ratlings – A Christmas Concert
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Lady Ratlings Choir sings traditional carols at the Actors' Church in Covent Garden. Guest readers are billed to read traditional Christmas pieces: Dame Sheila Hancock, Anne Hegerty, Dame Maureen Lipman, Debbie McGee and Helen Worth MBE, all subject to availability. Mulled wine and mince pies are served afterwards. Donations go to the Grand Order of Lady Ratlings' Cup of Kindness charity.
Cinderella
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Lyric Hammersmith's annual home-made pantomime, written by the Lyric's long-time panto writer Joel Horwood and directed by Robin Belfield, relocates Cinderella to a crumbling castle in "Glamoursmith", where she skivvies for her cruel captor Suella and two unkind sisters. Word is that the kingdom's Prince must find a wife by midnight or everyone is doomed, so with help from Buttons, a dash of fairy magic and a pair of glass slippers, Cinderella sets out to reach the ball and save the day. Expect songs, gags, a "foot hunt" and the Lyric's usual irreverent, local-joke-heavy take on the form; it runs 14 Nov 2026 – 3 Jan 2027.
Cinderella: Buttons Undone!
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctHe's Behind You!'s 2026/27 adult alternative panto, the follow-up to last year's Beauty and the Beast: A Horny Love Story. Tennis champion Ivan Yassandvich holds a ball in the seaside resort of Lob-on-Sea to choose a bride; hotel maid Cindy and her stepsister-boss Mercedes are thrilled, while Cindy's gay best friend Buttons has sworn off straight men and insists this is not his story. Written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, songs by Jon Bradfield, directed by Andrew Beckett; a deliberately filthy, very gay fairytale pantomime, not a family show.
Dick Whittington and His Cat
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe King's Head's third annual family panto: Dick Whittington and his cat head to Islington, 'where the streets are paved with gold', only to find the city overrun by rats, so he must save the borough from the Rat King (here Queen Rat) and win Alice Fitzgerald along the way. Written and directed by Andrew Pollard, with set and costumes by Nicky Bunch and musical direction by George W. Parris, it stars RuPaul's Drag Race UK favourites Victoria Scone (Dragpuss, the cat) and River Medway (Queen Rat). General management is by Luminous Entertainment Group; the run opens with previews on 22 Nov 2026 and press night is Sun 29 Nov.
Jack and the Beanstalk
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctHackney Empire's own in-house pantomime, the East End's most celebrated traditional panto, returning for the theatre's 125th-anniversary season: Jack sells the family cow for magic beans, climbs the beanstalk into an enchanted land and must outwit a giant, with songs, dance numbers, extravagant costumes and lots of audience participation. Written by Will Brenton with original music by Steven Edis, and directed by Olivier Award-winner Clive Rowe, who also stars as Dame Trot. Runs Sat 21 Nov – Thu 31 Dec 2026; press night Thu 3 Dec 2026 at 19:00.
Jack and the Beanstalk
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctGreenwich Theatre's own Christmas pantomime for 2026/27, running 27 Nov 2026 to 10 Jan 2027 in the Main House. Jack and his mother Dame Dotty Trott have fallen on hard times and sold their cow Pat; with a little magic from an unconventional fairy, Jack climbs the beanstalk to Cloudland to seek his fortune, where a giant problem stands in his way. It is written by and stars panto specialist Anthony Spargo, directed by Greenwich's artistic director James Haddrell, with musical direction by Steve Markwick - the same in-house team the theatre says won Best Script and Best Pantomime at the UK Pantomime Awards 2025.
Pupperella – A Dog Pantomime
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new Cinderella pantomime with a cast of actors and dogs. The title role is a dog called Pupperella who is looking for her forever home. It is staged in support of the rescue charity All Dogs Matter, with fairy-tale magic and a lot of four-legged mischief. Each of the four shows has celebrity guests.
Robin Hood
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctQueen's Theatre Hornchurch's own Christmas pantomime for 2026: a brand-new, laugh-out-loud take on Robin Hood relocated to the "Forest of Havering", where the outlaw, his Merry Band and a bold Maid Marian set out to outwit the greedy Sheriff of Havering with songs, slapstick and plenty of audience participation. It is written by Kate Lovell and James Watson, who wrote last year's Jack and the Beanstalk here, and directed by Kash Arshad, with music by Andrew Linham and design by Elizabeth Wright. Hornchurch pantos are played by an actor-musician company, so the cast plays the band live on stage.
The Snowflake
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA feel-good puppetry-and-song Christmas show adapted from Benji Davies's picture book The Snowflake: a snowflake falling from the sky, a little girl called Noelle and her Pappie are each longing for their own special place in the world, and the stage version adds an extra storyline about Pappie that is not in the book. It is a co-production between Little Angel Theatre, Birmingham Rep and Polka Theatre, adapted and directed by Matt Aston, with puppets by Oliver James Hymans, set and costume by Laura McEwen, lighting by Jonathan Chan and music/sound by Julian Butler.
Gandeys K-Pop Dragon Circus
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThis is a new circus show for 2026 in the big top at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. It mixes K-Pop music and dance with circus acts, around a story about dragons and magic inspired by a hit film. It is aimed at the whole family and lasts just under an hour. You also need a Winter Wonderland entry ticket for your time slot: £1 off-peak, £5.50 standard or £8.25 peak, or free if you spend £25 online.
Huddle
sold out✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA gentle, highly visual Christmas show for the very young, with very little dialogue. In frozen Antarctica, Mr Penguin receives a special delivery – his very own egg. When it hatches he finds his flippers full looking after his chick, and learns to be a dad, penguin-style. It mixes playful performance, projection and sound, and returns after a sold-out run at the Unicorn in 2024; seating is on the floor and on benches.
Mr Fogg's Christmas Murder Mystery
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA two-hour festive whodunnit staged inside Mr Fogg's Residence, the Victorian-themed Mayfair cocktail bar styled as the home of fictional explorer Phileas J. Fogg. Guests arrive for Fogg's Christmas soiree, a murder occurs, and they work with Inspector Fix to crack the case before the final carol, with two cocktails included in the ticket. It is produced in-house by Mr Fogg's (the Inception Group bar collection) as the Christmas edition of its regular Saturday Victorian Murder Mystery.
The Scarlet Lotus Presents: Santa's Secret Cabaret
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA festive dinner-cabaret evening billed as "The Scarlet Lotus Presents: Santa's Secret Cabaret", promising aerial acrobatics, circus performers, fire acts and live music in a Christmas setting, sold with dining packages ranging from drinks and canapes up to five- or seven-course dinners. It is aimed at office parties and groups ("colleagues, clients, friends, or family") at the new Emerald Theatre on Victoria Embankment, the refurbished former Proud Embankment cabaret venue. The producer, "The Scarlet Lotus", has no findable official website, and the venue's own site and box office do not list the show.
Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company - WITHIN
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctWITHIN is a two-part evening by Delhi-based kathak dancer and choreographer Aditi Mangaldas and her company, asking what dualities (humanity and brutality, masculine and feminine, good and bad) live inside all of us. It opens with KNOTTED, a contemporary piece rooted in kathak that tangles and disentangles raw human emotion, and closes with UNWRAPPED, a classical kathak work drawing on mythological stories alongside present-day social concerns. Presented by Sadler's Wells London for two nights only; it is the only main-stage dance production at Sadler's Wells during 22-27 November.
Ballet Nights at Richmond Theatre: Alina Cojocaru in Kim Brandstrup's Afsked, with Paris O…
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctBallet Nights is a compèred evening of classical ballet, neo-classical and contemporary dance with live music, founded in London in 2023 by former Scottish Ballet soloist Jamiel Devernay-Laurence (Fundamentally Dance), who curates and hosts; since launch it has presented 20 programmes and over 200 artists. This Richmond edition is led by Alina Cojocaru OBE (ex-Royal Ballet and ENB principal) dancing Olivier-winner Kim Brandstrup's duet Afsked ("farewell", a reluctant parting) with contemporary dancer Seirian Griffiths, alongside Paris Opera Ballet étoiles Bleuenn Battistoni and Paul Marque in the Swan Lake Act II and Le Corsaire pas…
Christmas Wonderland
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA traditional music-hall Christmas variety show in a fully festive-themed converted church in Silvertown: well-known Christmas songs, festive comedy and the venue's own Brick Lane Music Hall Carols, served with a freshly made three-course lunch at your table. It is produced by the Brick Lane Music Hall company and led on stage by the venue's founder Vincent Hayes MBE, who started the music hall in 1992; this edition is directed by Jordan Langford with musical direction by Scott Hayes.
Cloud 9
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctCaryl Churchill's 1979 satire (first staged by Joint Stock) on gender, sexuality and imperial power: Act One is set in a Victorian colonial outpost in Africa, where administrator Clive tries to run his household by rigid rules; Act Two jumps a hundred years to 1970s London, though the characters have aged only twenty-five, and they begin openly questioning the identities they were told to accept. Famous for its cross-gender and cross-racial casting, with actors switching roles between the acts.
Constanze (Jane Asher, Fflur Wyn, Andrew Matthews-Owen)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctAn evening of theatre and music about Mozart's life and loves, told from the point of view of his wife Constanze, written by Tim Coates. Jane Asher plays Constanze. Mozart's music is performed live by Welsh soprano Fflur Wyn and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen. It is presented by the Richmond Concert Series with the Orange Tree Theatre at St Mary Magdalene Church in Richmond.
Desire Under the Elms
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new version of Eugene O'Neill's 1924 tragedy, in which Eben and his half-brothers toil on the family farm dreaming of escape until their patriarch Ephraim returns from a two-month absence with a new young wife, Abbie, whose arrival detonates the household. Inspired by Greek tragedy, it is staged as a family drama pitting the passion of the heart against the reason of the mind, with live musicians on stage. Directed by former Almeida Resident Director Ebenezer Bamgboye (The Lonely Londoners) and starring Zackary Momoh (Seven Seconds; Harriet) as Eben, it runs Tue 10 Nov to Wed 23 Dec 2026.
Dogstar
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA darkly comic new play set on the whaling ship Dogstar, which has been stuck in polar ice for months with no whales left to catch. As the crew start dying one by one, blame and talk of mutiny spread. Then the sailors begin to see strange visions in the sky – is it scurvy, the endless polar night, or a chance of salvation? Daisy Hall returns to Hampstead Downstairs after her sell-out play Bellringers, directed by Lucy Morrison.
Eurotrash
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new English-language stage adaptation by Colin Teevan of Christian Kracht's cult autofictional novel Eurotrash (2021; English translation by Daniel Bowles longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize), directed by Walter Meierjohann with sets and costumes by Lizzie Clachan. A blocked novelist is summoned to Zurich by his elderly, unstable, hard-drinking mother; together they set off on a darkly comic road trip through the Swiss mountains to give away her fortune (made from arms investments and dairy) and confront the family's, and Europe's, Nazi-tainted past.
Ilford Boy
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctWorld-premiere play by Danny Lee Wynter, directed by Donmar Artistic Director Tim Sheader. Mixed-race teenager Ted Martin grows up in 1990s Ilford, East London, in a household of chaos, laughter and tough love, until the arrival of the stylish, show-tune-loving Patrick opens up a world of art, possibility and chosen family. Billed as a funny, moving drama "about ghosts, chosen families, and a Streisand that helps people survive"; reviews called it "the most entertaining British play I've seen all year" (The Times) and "a fierce and funny portrait of working-class family life" (The Telegraph).
Julius Caesar
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctShakespeare's Roman tragedy, newly adapted and directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins (returning after Ghosts at the SWP) for the Globe's candlelit indoor playhouse: fear of Caesar's ambition turns the Senate into a murder plot, and when the crowd turns on the conspirators, political infighting becomes civil war. The Globe pitches it as a brutal, timely story of friendship, betrayal and political violence, played by a tight ensemble of four with live percussion. Winter 2026/27 season, 6 Nov 2026 to 14 Feb 2027.
Jumpers
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctTom Stoppard's 1972 comedy of murder, marriage and metaphysics, not staged in London for more than 20 years, in a new Hampstead Theatre production directed by Blanche McIntyre (who staged Stoppard's The Invention of Love there). George, a Professor of Moral Philosophy, makes an anonymous police complaint about the wild election-night party his wife Dotty is hosting; the next morning the police arrive to investigate a murder committed at the party, and Dotty is the prime suspect.
Matilda The Musical
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe RSC's musical of Roald Dahl's story about Matilda, a brilliant girl with a cruel family and a terrifying headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. With help from her teacher Miss Honey and a little magic, she fights back. Tim Minchin's songs are funny and catchy. It is a long-running family favourite and is not a Christmas show. Booking until 17 Jan 2027.
My Neighbour Totoro
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe RSC's stage version of the Studio Ghibli film. Sisters Satsuki and Mei move to the Japanese countryside while their mother is ill and find a hidden world of forest spirits. These include the giant Totoro and the Catbus, played by large puppets. Joe Hisaishi's score is played live by an onstage band. Booking until 3 Jan 2027.
Nero
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new musical about the Roman emperor Nero from Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, the Tony-winning writers of Spring Awakening. Before his name meant tyranny, Nero was an artist and performer pushed reluctantly into absolute power. Family ambition, love and political plotting drive his search for identity into madness. The show links the theatre of politics and celebrity in ancient Rome with today.
Nine Night
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctWhen Gloria dies, her family gathers for a traditional Jamaican Nine Night wake, and as mourners arrive with rum, curry and complaints, tensions build and long-buried truths surface. It is Natasha Gordon's critically acclaimed debut comedy-drama (first seen at the National Theatre in 2018), here in a brand-new staging directed by Kiln Artistic Director Amit Sharma. Kiln bills it as a celebration of the humour and hardships of grief.
Pride The Musical
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctSummer 1984: 24-year-old activist Mark Ashton rallies London's lesbian and gay campaigners to raise money for striking miners in a South Wales village, and two very different communities build an unlikely friendship (the true 'Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners' story). A new musical by Stephen Beresford (book and lyrics, adapting his own 2014 film) with original songs by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde drawing on 80s pop, rock, disco and Welsh choral tradition, directed by Matthew Warchus (Matilda).
Recitals at Lunch: Marcello, Mozart and Bach (oboe and strings)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThis is a short lunchtime concert by players from the Royal Opera House orchestra, held in the historic Crush Room. The programme is Benedetto Marcello's Oboe Concerto, Mozart's Oboe Quartet and Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe. The room is small, so the players are very close to the audience. The limit is six tickets per person.
Rhythms of the Divine: Mevlevi Sema Ceremony and Turkish Sufi Music Concert
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA single evening in two halves: first a concert of traditional Turkish Sufi music from the Mevlevi repertoire (ney flute and kudum drums at its core), then the Mevlevi Sema Ceremony itself - the whirling-dervish ritual of music, recitation and measured movement rooted in the teachings of the 13th-century poet-mystic Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, and recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Afronauts
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA world-premiere play by Ryan Calais Cameron (For Black Boys…, Retrograde) based on the 'true-ish' story of Zambia's space programme. In 1964, while the superpowers race for the moon, a schoolteacher in newly independent Zambia gathers a group of misfit dreamers and trains them for lift-off. It is a story about a nation's defiant dream of reaching the stars. Lucian Msamati leads the international cast, with Ama Qamata making her UK stage debut.
The Marriage of Figaro (new Yorkshire version by Ian McMillan)
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctMozart's comic opera in a brand-new Yorkshire English version by poet Ian McMillan, relocated to 1970s Bradford: Figaro is about to marry Suzanna, but his employer the Count is pursuing her while neglecting his young Countess Rosina, so the couple plot to outwit him. It is an orchestral reimagining that blends Western and Indian classical instruments, performed by musicians and singers from both traditions, conducted by Ben Crick and directed by Alex Chisholm. The official page bills it as "Mozart... but not as you've heard it" and says it follows the same team's earlier Yorkshire Barber of Seville.
The Pianist
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe world stage premiere of Wladyslaw Szpilman's best-selling memoir about surviving in wartime Warsaw. Adapted and directed by Thom Southerland, it uses Szpilman's own music on stage for the first time, in new orchestrations by Simon Lee. A cast of actor-musicians brings to life the concert halls and cafés of Jewish Warsaw before its destruction. It is a tribute to culture and to the power of creativity to outlast persecution. The run ends on 28 November.
Tosca - English National Opera
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA brand-new ENO staging of Puccini's Tosca (libretto Giacosa and Illica after Sardou), directed by ENO Artistic Director Annilese Miskimmon, fresh from her Olivier-winning Dead Man Walking, and conducted by Ben Glassberg. Miskimmon relocates the action to a concert hall in an unnamed European state torn by civil conflict: singer Floria Tosca's secret meeting with her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, is wrecked when police chief Scarpia turns the building into a place of torture and coercion, and over one night Tosca must fight for her love, her honour and her life.
Visionaries: Robbins and MacMillan (Dances at a Gathering / Song of the Earth) - The Royal…
confirmed✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA Royal Ballet double bill pairing two 20th-century masterpieces: Jerome Robbins's plotless Dances at a Gathering (1969), a sequence of dances for ten dancers to Chopin piano pieces about human connection and shifting moods, and Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth (1965), set to Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with live singers, drawing on 8th-century Chinese poems about the transience of life and the nearness of death.
Beetlejuice
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Broadway musical of Tim Burton's film. Odd teenager Lydia Deetz shares her new home with a newly dead couple and the chaotic demon Beetlejuice. It is a loud, colourful comedy about grief and family. It is not Christmas-themed, and it is aimed at older children and adults. Final West End performance is 2 Jan 2027.
Disney's The Lion King
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctDisney's stage musical of the animated film, now in its 28th year at the Lyceum. The young lion Simba loses his father and runs away, then has to come back and claim his place. It is famous for Julie Taymor's masks and puppets and for songs by Elton John and Tim Rice. It is not a Christmas show, but it is a popular family pick in the holidays.
Fly, You Fools!
sold out✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA live, shot-for-shot comedy parody of "the most epic novel and fantasy film of all time" (i.e. The Fellowship of the Ring), in which three actors and a Foley artist recreate the whole saga in about an hour using mime, shadow puppetry, live sound effects and a cappella. It is made by Recent Cutbacks, the US/UK ensemble behind the Jurassic Park parody Hold On To Your Butts, after two sold-out Edinburgh Fringe seasons; this Southwark Playhouse run (25 Nov 2026 - 16 Jan 2027) is the company's first London production. Not a seasonal/Christmas show, but a light option for the week.
Fourteen Again
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new musical built around the songs of Victoria Wood, with a book by Tom MacRae (Everybody's Talking About Jamie), directed by Jonathan O'Boyle. Peggy, recently divorced and adrift, runs into her long-lost childhood best friend Lou, and after dwelling on their teenage years wakes up to find she is literally fourteen again and must fix the mistakes of her past to get her present back. Billed as a dramatic comedy; it was a sell-out at its world premiere at the Victoria Wood Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere, and transfers to the Menier for a London run (previews from 21 Nov, opening 2 Dec 2026, to 27 Feb 2027).
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (new one-part version)
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe Harry Potter stage story set 19 years after the books, now a single show instead of two parts (since 9 Oct 2026). Harry is an overworked Ministry employee, and his son Albus struggles with the weight of the family name. A dangerous journey through time follows. It is known for its stage magic.
Oliver!
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctLionel Bart's musical of Dickens's Oliver Twist. An orphan boy escapes the workhouse and falls in with Fagin's gang of pickpockets in Victorian London. Songs include Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself and As Long As He Needs Me. It is not a Christmas show, but its Dickensian London makes it a natural holiday family pick. Booking until 14 Mar 2027.
Paddington The Musical
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctA new musical about Paddington Bear, who arrives in London from Peru and finds a home with the Brown family. Songs and a lot of puppetry tell the story of his first adventures in the city and the trouble he gets into. It is a feel-good family show set in London. Reports give booking to 14 Feb 2027.
Wicked
likely✓ re-checked at the box office, 25 OctThe story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy arrives. It follows the unlikely friendship of green-skinned Elphaba and popular Glinda, and how one came to be called wicked. Stephen Schwartz's score includes Defying Gravity and Popular. It is not Christmas-themed, but it is one of the biggest family picks in the West End.
Also playing that week on smaller stages: Relative Motion at Southwark Playhouse Borough; ATTENTION at Bush Theatre; Global Majority at Bush Theatre; Goblin at Park Theatre; The Silence and the Noise at Park Theatre; The Ugly One at Arcola Theatre; Attract and Resist – Chromatica Orchestra at Battersea Arts Centre; REVOLVER at Soho Theatre; Pink Rabbit at Soho Theatre; Flat and the Curves: Rosé Tinted at Wilton's Music Hall; Act of God at Riverside Studios; Are You Even Indian? at Riverside Studios; In My Own Little World at Riverside Studios; Cradle: Stories of Iran, Exile & Belonging at Riverside Studios.
Running that week, dates for our days not yet published: Wundrful World of Christmas at Immerse LDN.
