Rose Theatre announces its 2025/26 season, continuing its commitment to entertain audiences, elevate artists, and empower the community. In addition to the previously announced Marie and Rosetta starring Olivier Award winner Beverley Knight, the full 2025 programme includes:
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning playwright Ava Pickett and Rose Theatre Artistic Director Christopher Haydon bring a new adaptation of Emma joyously into the 21st century for the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth (17 September – 11 October).
RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Tanuja Amarasuriya directs Noël Coward’s timeless comedy Private Lives, the latest production as part of the Rose’s relationship with the Royal Theatrical Support Trust (14 – 25 October).
Olivier Award winner Chris Bush and Roni Neale co-write a new version of Cinderella, a festive family adventure with original songs by Matt Winkworth (28 November 2025 – 4 January 2026).
The Stage Debut Award-winning director Monique Touko returns with her acclaimed staging of Onjali Q. Raúf’s best-selling novel, The Boy at the Back of the Class, which premiered at the Rose and extensively toured the country in 2024 (6 – 22 February 2026).
Completing the season is the recently announced Our Town, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring Michael Sheen, directed by Francesca Goodridge, presented in a co-production with the newly launched Welsh National Theatre (26 February – 28 March 2026).
Rose Theatre continues its commitment to make theatre accessible to wider and more diverse audiences by offering a majority of seats for Rose drama productions available at £25 during its upcoming 2025-2026 season with further benefits for members in its Friends, Family, and 30 & Under schemes.
Christopher Haydon, Artistic Director of Rose Theatre, said: “I am delighted to be presenting this season of shows created by a string of exceptional, award-winning artists. Each production will bring a sharply contemporary sensibility to a big-hearted and joyous story. These are shows that will bring happiness and laughter to audiences of all ages. I am particularly excited to be directing Ava Pickett’s remarkable new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. Ava is a writer of rare talent and I can’t wait to collaborate with her to make this familiar and well-loved story feel fiercely fresh.”
Robert O’Dowd, Chief Executive of Rose Theatre, said: “We have been delighted by the response to our affordable pricing this past season. We’re seeing so many new audiences come to Kingston for a great night out, including our award-winning production of Never Let Me Go last autumn and Marie and Rosetta, which opens in May.”
Ava Pickett, Emma Playwright, said: “I’m so excited to bring the Rose Theatre an Emma who is every bit as complicated, funny and overconfident in her own abilities as she always has been, whilst pushing her into the rollercoaster of what it means to be young and on the precipice of adulthood in 2025! Still every bit as brilliant but maybe slightly less held together; Emma is a young woman of our time and it’s such a thrilling experience to bring her to life. A comedy about love, friendship and identity, Emma is definitely someone you still want to hang out with, but categorically not someone you want in charge of your dating profile (as her long-suffering best friend Harriet is about to find out) and I can’t wait for you all to see the chaos unfold. It’s a joy and a privilege.”
Tanuja Amarasuriya, Director of Private Lives, said: “I was absolutely thrilled to win the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, and am totally stoked to be working with the Rose Theatre, Bolton Octagon and Mercury Theatre on this production. Noël Coward’s Private Lives is a fabulous play – funny, sexy, shocking – and full of bittersweet truths about the complex difficulties of relationships. When I first read it, I was amazed at how modern these characters felt; and that’s what I want to share with audiences – a show that combines the glamour and screwball comedy thrill of the 1930s with a vibrant, immediate energy that speaks straight to 2025.”
Chris Bush, Co-Writer of Cinderella, said: “I’m beyond excited to be heading back to Kingston for Christmas, and to be working on such an iconic title as Cinderella. It’s even more fun to be teaming up with Matt Winkworth again, and to be bringing Roni Neale to the party – we’re going to have a ball! I hope we can do justice to this timeless classic, while adding a few little twists of our own. Rose audiences were so joyful and generous with us last year, and I can’t wait to be back!”
Monique Touko, Director of The Boy at the Back of the Class, said: “I am so thrilled to be remounting The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf — a loved novel which will be experienced up and down the country for the second time. For me, the most significant part of this re-staging is the chance to create a full and entertaining theatrical experience that speaks to young people today and humanises Ahmet, a young Kurdish Syrian boy who, like so many others, is trying to navigate a new world after being torn from his home and separated from his family. This production aims to hold a mirror to society, offering a reminder that refugees are not just numbers or statistics; they are human beings, amplifying the message that kindness and human connection can truly make a difference.”
Francesca Goodridge, Director of Our Town, said: “Our Town is a play that gets under your skin, shakes you into changing your perspective and opens your eyes to the beauty of life. The play reminds us of the little things that make life meaningful – it’s a wake-up call for all of us to think more deeply about our lives as we are living them, not after it is too late. I feel privileged to be directing the Welsh National Theatre’s inaugural alongside Rose Theatre and I’m thrilled for this retelling of a world-renowned classic to be making the move from Wales to West London.”
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
