While 2025 looks set to be an incredible year for live music with the likes of Oasis, Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Kylie Minogue embarking on concert tours, a swarm of Hollywood stars will descend on the West End this autumn and bring the works to life of Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, modern classics and original theatre. That raises hopes that live theater could see a similar boom in ticket revenue seen in concert sales in recent months.
It seems a top-billing West End stint could be just the icing on the cake for many actors, with the likes of Hollywood stars Brie Larson, Brian Cox, Sigourney Weaver, Jonathan Bailey and Simon Russell Beale set to star in London plays this autumn and winter .
For those of us who live and work in the capital, we will be spoiled for choice for world-class theater this autumn. Here we count down just five of the heavyweight acts coming to London soon.
Simon Russell Beale in The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre
Hailed as Stoppard’s greatest play, The Invention of Love tells the story of Cambridge classicist and celebrated poet AE Housman (1859-1936) who, as he understands it, is finally dead. The play follows the famous Latin scholar and celebrated poet A Shropshire boy ferried across the Styx to Hades—but beyond the Stygian gloom on the other side of the river he finds, to his surprise, the Oxford University of his youth. There he sees beyond the mists of time the companion of his youth and the unrequited love he clung to throughout his life.
Tickets are almost sold out, but there is some availability during the play in January, with concessions for students and under 30s at £10, rising to price ranges of £30, £45, £55 and £65. See HERE for details.
Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest, Theater Royal (Drury Lane)
If ever proof was needed that Hollywood stars are beginning to see London’s theater in a new light, it could be Aliens star Sigourney Weaver, 75, making her West End debut in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, produced by the Jamie Lloyd Company.
Sigourney will star as Prospero in The Tempest, which comes to the Theater Royal (Drury Lane) from December 7 to February 1 next year, with Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne among the cast. The enchanting tale of revenge and forgiveness sees a ship carrying the Duke of Milan and his entourage shipwrecked on an island, where they meet the sorcerer Prospero, his daughter Miranda and the sorcerer’s servant Caliban – all of whom have a score to settle with the erstwhile duke.
Brie Larson in Elektra, Duke of York’s Theatre
Oscar winner Brie Larson will bring one of the greatest heroines of Greek tragedy to life this fall. The Captain Marvel actress plays Elektra at the Duke of York Theater from January 24 to April 12. It is the first time Sophocles’ play has been performed in over a decade, with a translation by award-winning poet Anne Carson.
The play tells the story of the Mycenaean princess Elektra, who is haunted by her father’s murder at the hands of her mother Klytemnestra and her lover. Consumed by grief, a need for survival and a thirst for revenge, Elektra’s fortunes change when her long-lost brother Orestes returns from the Trojan War, and she urges him to take bloody revenge against the usurpers.
Tickets start at £25, rising to £125. Buy tickets from ATG and Love Theatre.
Jonathan Bailey in Richard II, Bridge Theatre
Bridgerton and Fellow Traveler star Jonathan Bailey bring one of Shakespeare’s great tragic heroes Richard II to life in Nicholas Hynter’s production of Richard II at The Bridge Theater from 10 February to 10 May.
Richard II, destined to be overthrown by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, is one of Shakespeare’s most complex roles, described as a man who is “charismatic, eloquent and beloved by his friends. And a disastrous king – dishonest, capricious and politically incompetent. Echoing through centuries is the constant problem: how to deal with a ruler who has a rock-solid right to rule but is bent on destroying the country he leads.”
Tickets start at £19.50, rising to £135 for premium seats. You can buy tickets at Bridge Theater and Love Theatre.
Brian Cox in The Score, Theater Royal Haymarket
Acclaimed actor and star of HBO’s hit series Succession Brian Cox portrays composer Johann Sebastian Bach in Oliver Cotton’s new play, The Score. Originally presented at the Theater Royal Bath, it will run at the Theater Royal Haymarket from 20 February to 26 April.
Set in the spring of 1747, in Potsdam, Prussia, The Score begins when Johann Sebastian Bach reluctantly visits the court of Frederick II, Europe’s most ambitious and dangerous leader, in search of a new patron. The two men could hardly be more different. Bach is deeply religious, while the warlike king is cynical and atheist, yet harbors a deep love of music – setting the two men on a dangerous collision course.
Tickets are available from £15, rising to £150. You can get tickets at Love Theatre, London Theater Direct and Ticketmaster.
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