The best theatre to book in September from Waiting for Godot to Giant (2024)

From fresh adaptations of beloved classics to thought-provoking original shows, London is heaving with new theatre productions each year.

But with so much to choose from, picking what to see in the capital can feel like a dramatic epic. So we’ve done the heavy lifting for you with a list of our top picks to watch this month...

Nadia Falls revives Mike Leigh’s much-loved satirical take on 1970s suburbia at the Theatre Royal Stratford East this month. An awkward co*cktail party descends into disaster that brings social class and sexual tension front and centre… there’s no escaping the cringe in Abigail’s Party.

Theatre Royal Stratford East, September 12 to October 12; buy tickets here

Following high praise of his hit play The P Word and an Olivier Award win, Waleed Akhtar is back with The Real Ones, a hymn to platonic soulmates. The stellar cast sees It’s A Sin’s Nathaniel Curtis and Black Mirror’s Mariam Haque starring as best friends Zaid and Neelam who are both chasing a dream of becoming playwrights.

Astronomy, communism and misogyny are addressed in Stella Feehily’s drama inspired by Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, the first woman to head a Harvard department. Directed by Alice Hamilton, The Lightest Element depicts Payne-Gaposchkin battling against “social norms and scientific orthodoxy” to defend her position.

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Tasha Taylor Johnson’s musical-gig-ballet gets a full run this season, with Zizi Strallen and Renee Lamb (Six) taking the leads. With a fabulous multi-genre pop score, the scandalous story surrounding one of the most notorious monarchs in history is turned into a raucous musical.

Iranian food is on offer in Hannah Khalil’s adaptation of Atoosa Sepehr’s story about starting again in a new culture. With live cooking taking place on stage, My English Persian Kitchen explores how we use food to tell stories and build communities, a true feast for the senses.

Get a glimpse at the mind of the man behind the iconic London Tube map in The Truth About Harry Beck. Opening on the 50th anniversary of his death, the play written and directed by Andy Burden goes beneath the surface to uncover Beck’s obsession and fascination with creating the perfect map.

Cubic Theatre at London Transport Museum, September 18 to November 10; buy tickets here

Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw take on this Samuel Beckett masterpiece as the existential duo Vladimir and Estragon searching for meaning as they wait and wait. Directed by James MacDonald, it’s showing for a limited run at Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Theatre Royal Haymarket, September 19 to December 14; buy tickets here

Princesses and pageants debut at the Globe this September in Anne Odeke’s play set in Southend-on-Sea in 1908. Retelling the true story of Princess Dinubolu of Senegal, the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK, the music-filled comedy directed by Robin Belfield is a tale of “bravery, beauty and belonging”.

Shakespeare’s Globe, September 19 to October 26; buy tickets here

Kwame Kwei-Amah directs his final show at the Young Vic with the premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the Hollywood classic. Performances from Ramon Karimloo and Anoushka Lucas, and a soundtrack of original songs by Elvis Costello, A Face in The Crowd is a cautionary tale about elevating celebrities to positions of unchecked power. Timely or what?

The circus spectacular inspired by the musical The Greatest Showman will make its world premiere in London later this month. Telling the story of a young girl named Max in the circus, it promises to be one to keep the whole family entertained with its hattrick of circus skills, musical score and dramatic storytelling.

Empress Museum in Earls Court, September 23 to January 5, 2025; buy tickets here

David Oyelowu will make his debut at the National Theatre this September as Shakespeare’s antihero in the Lindsay Turner’s production of this timeless tragedy.

Still feel like getting existential? Well you can do just that with a trip to Kingston for the world premiere of Suzanne Heathcote’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Kazu Ishiguro. Playing with dreams, memory and reality, Heathcote forces us to question our understanding of what it means to be human.

Rose Theatre Kingston, September 25 to October 12; buy tickets here

Rob Drummond’s play about misinformation and vaccinations brings up the question of where we place our trust. With dialogue performed by a mother trying to make a decision on behalf of her family, a distrustful youngster and the father of modern vaccinations, Edward Jenner, Pins and Needles is bound to be both unpredictable and thought-provoking.

Set in the summer of 1983, Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play follows Roald Dahl facing backlash following an anti semitic article. Directed by Nicholas Hynter and featuring Elliot Levey as Dahl’s Jewish agent, Giant uses real-life events to inspect the difference between “considered opinion and dangerous rhetoric.”

Royal Court (Downstairs), September 26 to November 16; buy tickets here

Nancy Carroll adapts and stars in Arthur Wing Pinero’s political farce that follows Sir Julian Twombley attempting to save his reputation and fend off reporters in this production directed by Paul Foster.

The Shakespeare tragedy is being staged at the Globe for the first time in a decade. Blanche McIntyre, award-winning director of Soho Theatre’s Super High Resolution and Sam Wanamaker Playhouse’s Measure For Measure, will bring story back to the stage. Nadia Nadarajah will play Cleopatra and John Hollingworth will play Antony.

An exercise in separating the art from the artist: two-time Pulitzer Prize winnerLynn Nottageand Tony Award-winning director Christopher Wheeldon have made a jukebox musical about Jackson’s life that has been pulling in mixed reviews, but has been adored by the fans. After premiering on Broadway in 2021, over 1.1 million people went to see the New York production.

This award-winning musical comedy from Jon Brittain(Rotterdam) andMatthew Floyd Jones(Frisky and Mannish), produced byFleabag’s Francesca Moody, has enjoyed sell out runs in Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh. Now it’s delighting London audiences, as they follow BFFs Kathy and Stella, hosts of an unsuccessful regional true crime podcast, who are trying to solve a murder mystery.

Adrian Dunbar(Line of Duty, Ridley) and Stephanie J. Block(Into The Woods, The Cher Show) star in this new production of Cole Porter’s 1948 musical comedy, a story about a company trying to put on a musical version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, and the relationship between director Fred Graham and his ex-wife, leading lady Lilli Vanessi.

Following the set up of a sitcom, and telling the story of a Hot Wing Contest in Tennessee in the summer, this Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy from Katori Hall(Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, The Mountaintop)is set to sizzle as it explores black masculinity.

Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of John Steinbeck’s masterpiece is now being reimaged by Carrie Cracknell, who has previously directed Julie andThe Deep Blue Sea at the National Theatre. Tony Award-winnerCherry Jones, last seen on the London stage in The Glass Menagerie, as well as on screens inSuccession, will play Ma Joad andHarry Treadaway(The Chemistry of Death,Penny Dreadful) will play Tom Joad in this story about poor farmers trying to survive during theGreat Depression.

This 10-time-winning 1964 musical, which has been revived on Broadway and on the West End numerous times over the past 70 years (and made into a fantastic 1969 film starring Barbra Streisand), is returning to London. Set in 1890, and based on Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker, the story follows widow-socialite-matchmaker Dolly Levi as she helps various clients. Riotous and incredibly charming, Imelda Staunton will play the delightful Dolly.

Promising to be as eccentric as ever, the legendary rock ‘n’ roll musical arrives in London for two weeks this month, with Bafta winner Mawaan Rizwan starring alongside Jason Donovan in his take on the iconic Frank ‘N’ Furter.

This new play from award-winning writerTife Kusoro, a Royal Court ‘Introduction to Playwriting Group’ alum, explores race through the experiences of three school boys who are fearful of an urban legend called Baitface. He is known for stealing the lives of black boys. When they are caught up in alleged crime, and their identities and friendships come under pressure, they are made to wonder whether Baitface has made an appearance, or whether something else is going on.

Jeremy O Harris’s 12-time Tony award-nominated 2018 play has now opened in London, dividing audiences. Exploring sex and race, the show has sparked huge debate both in the US and the UK, being described as “so serious, so furious” and “a cause célèbreand ascandal”. It’s about three interracial couples undergoing a kind of physical therapy because the black partners no longer feel sexually attracted to their white lovers.

This new production of Joseph Stein’s classic musical, which tells the story of a Jewish milkman and his five daughters in a Ukrainian village in 1905, has been directed by Jordan Fein, the director of the Young Vic’s startling take on Oklahoma.

This 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical about a woman dealing with bipolar disorder took 14 years to cross the Atlantic after its 2009 Broadway run. But it was worth the wait: when it opened at the Donmar last year, with Michael Longhurst directing, it sold out and picked up some rave reviews. Now it’s transferred to the West End, with Cassie Levy and Jamie Parker returning to play husband and wife Diana and Dan.

Few would have believed that Alfred Hitchco*ck’s tantalising 1935 spy thriller would make fantastic material for a comedy. Yet Patrick Barlow’s 1996 parody play has enjoyed nothing but success over the last 30 years, winning more than a dozen trophies including an Olivier award and multiple Tonys, touring the world, transferring to Broadway and playing to over 3 million audience members. Now the smash-hit is returning to London.

Starringboth Mary Bridget DaviesandSharon Sextonas Janis, this musical portrays the life of the iconic Sixties singer-songwriter who made such a long-lasting impact on American culture in her incredibly short 27 years. The show has been touring continuously since 2011, for the most part in the States. Now it is finally coming to London.

Clint Dyerand Roy Williams’s celebrated Death of England trilogy, which premiered at theNational Theatrebetween 2020 and 2023, is now being shown together in rep for the first time at @sohoplace. Interconnected – chapters delve into the lives of Michael, then his best friend Delroy, then Delroy’s girlfriend Carly and mother Denise – and moving, the energetic, whip-sharp shows explore loss, racism in the UK and family dynamics in the UK today. Death of England: Closing Time is the third part, which focuses on Denise, played by Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and Carly, Erin Doherty.

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before John CleeseandConnie Booth’s Fawlty Towers, the treasured comedy series that’s frequently cited as one of the greatest ever British TV sitcoms, was turned into a play. Now the story of a hapless hotel owner trying to run a business with his wife, has opened in the West End, being described by the Standard as an “efficient and energetic stage adaptation”.

The three plays in this trilogy which premiered at theNational Theatrebetween 2020 and 2023, have now been revived, performed together for the first time. This doesn’t mean a very long evening spent at the theatre; instead, visitors are given the option of buying tickets for one, two, or three of the plays to engage with the “strictly limited season”.

Rachel O’Riordan directs Timberlake Wertenbaker’s modern classic based on the true story of British convicts deported to Australia in 1788. Exploring themes of power and justice against the backdrop of Australia’s first penal colony (part of the dark history of the British Empire) the performance feels more poignant than ever.

This gorgeous two-hander, transferring from the Bush after a sold-out run, tells the story of ex-lovers Des and Dre, who end up reconnecting. Directed by Evening Standard Theatre Award winnerLynette Linton, and written by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize award-winner Benedict Lombe, the play was described as “pretty much the perfect bittersweet rom-com” by the Standard.

This celebrated adaptation of Shakespeare’s joyous play is returning to Shakespeare’s Globe just a year after it premiered with some cast members also reprising their roles. Last spring, the Standard gave the play four stars: “It’s daft, bawdy, boisterous, and the codpieces are magnificent,” said Tim Bano. “His excellent ensemble, featuring a few Globe newcomers alongside more practised hands, deliver a fantastically clear, zippy production as they don moustaches and dresses and get increasingly, hilariously annoyed at each other.”

This multi-Tony award-winning musical by Anaïs Mitchell is based on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. After running at the National Theatre a few years back it’s finally getting its time in the West End.

Writers of the award-winning musical Six, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss hope to make lighting strike twice though this time they’re leaving the Tudor court far behind. Following two best friends navigating the trials and tribulations of modern-day dating, why not skip that first date you were dreading for an evening of guaranteed entertainment instead.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic roller skate musical about a child’s train set that comes to life, and races against other, fancier train models, opened in the West End in 1984 and enjoyed an stellar 18-year run, making it the 9th-longest-running musical of all time. It’s been touring the world ever since, but has now, thrillingly, returned to London. Expect a cast of 40, whizzing around.

The cult high school comedy, which premiered on Broadway in 2018, is now coming to this side of the Atlantic.