The Best New Theatre Shows In London This Autumn

The Witches 

Vanya

Crazy For You

A tale of choosing between dreams and reality, Crazy For You follows theatre-fiend Bobby Child as he has to choose between his show-business dreams and running the family bank. After moving to Deadrock, Nevada, to close on a theatre’s mortgage that’s set to run itself into despair, he falls in love with the owner’s daughter and in a jest of goodwill, puts on a performance to help save the community – and hopefully win over the girl of his dreams. 

Directed and choreographed by multi-Tony and Olivier award-winner Susan Storman, this is a musical production that’ll have you rooting for the characters from the get-go.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club 

Located inside the Playhouse Theatre, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club is an immersive underground venue that will remind you of Berlin’s famous Kit Kat Club. The club’s new production is packed with brilliant set design, show-stopping costumes and mesmerising talent. 

The production will begin the moment you step inside, complete with a prologue performance that takes place throughout the building and bar areas, before the main event. It draws influences from the book by Joe Masteroff, the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood. 

This autumn-winter the production will see two big names joining the production. The roles of The Emcee and Sally Bowles will be performed by Scissor Sisters’ frontman Jake Shears and pop hero Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem.

As You Like It

For an al fresco performance, look to Shakespeare’s As You Like It which arrives once again at the Globe Theatre this autumn. 

Set in the Forest of Arden, Rosalind and Celia are in disguise, Orlando is a poetry obsessive and Oliver is seeing visions of strange beasts. Journey through this mysterious forest and see what colourful characters you’ll find within.

Edward Scissorhands 

If you want to relive Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, look to the all-new production directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne. Launching this autumn in Plymouth before transferring to Sadler’s Wells Theatre in December, the classic 90s tale will once again come to life, this time on the big stage. 

Featuring music by Danny Elfman and Terry Davies, the production will follow a young boy named Edward, who was created by an eccentric inventor. When his creator passes, he is left alone with only scissors for hands until a kind townswoman invites him to live with her suburban family.

My Neighbour Totoro

Following a successful run last autumn-winter, the stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s 1998 anime, My Neighbour Totoro, returns to the Barbican Theatre. 

Landing on the stage this November for a four-month stint, expect to fall in love with the coming-of-age story that brings to life the power of imagination. 

Every detail of the film will be brought to life, including masterful puppetry crafted from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to bring your favourite characters to the stage.

Death of England: Closing Time 

Starring Jo Martin (Doctor Who) and Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake), Dorfman Theatre’s Death of England: Closing Time follows a mother and daughter-in-law who have to pick up the pieces of their relatives’ mistakes, following the closure of their family shop. 

Brought to life by Clint Dyer (Othello) and Roy Williams (Sucker Punch), this narrative explores various themes, including family dynamics, race, colonialism and cancel culture.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow 

We’re not quite sure how this one is going to work but we’re incredibly excited to see it play out on stage. If you’re in need of filling your Stranger Things void, a brand new live-stage production of the Duffer Brothers Netflix hit series is set to land in London this autumn. 

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is set in Hawkins in 1959 before its world was turned upside down. The townsfolk had all of the usual worries until a new family moved to the town running away from a terrible past. Longing for a fresh start, Henry Creel and his family soon realise the shadows will follow them wherever they go.