Prepare for a riveting year in theatre as Theatre Weekly unveils its much-anticipated Top Ten London Plays to See in 2024. From thought-provoking narratives to powerful performances, we’ve curated a list that captures the essence of drama at its finest.
Join us in previewing the plays that promise to leave a lasting impact on the London stage in the upcoming year.
Theatre Weekly offers a sneak peek into the drama of 2024 with our Top Ten London Plays to See in 2024. London’s stages are gearing up for compelling stories and exceptional performances.
From groundbreaking scripts to stellar casts, our list showcases the plays that will define the dramatic landscape in the coming year. Immerse yourself in captivating storytelling and exceptional performances as we unveil the must-see plays of 2024.
Leaves of Glass at Park Theatre
Steven has always tried to be a good person. He works hard. He looks after his family. But, suddenly, everyone starts accusing him of things. His wife accuses him of being unfaithful. His mother accuses him of being coercive. And his brother, Barry, accuses him of…what exactly?
Following its critically-acclaimed and hit run at Park Theatre in May, Philip Ridley’s gripping four-hander of memory, manipulation, and power – now regarded as a modern classic – is back by popular demand. ★★★★★ ‘This production is theatre as it should be – an unforgettable experience’ Theatre Weekly
Nachtland at the Young Vic
Tony Award-winner__ Patrick Marber__ (Leopoldstadt) directs a jagged new satire from one of Germany’s foremost playwrights.
Modern day Germany. Nicola and Philipp argue as they clear out their late father’s house. When they find an old painting stashed in the attic, things get savage.
The painting is a quaint street scene from 1920s Vienna; the work of a failed artist who abandoned his original vocation for Nazism… Nicola wants to sell it. Philipp wants to keep it. Philipp’s wife Judith wants to burn it.
Shifters at Bush Theatre
A fierce romance for anyone desperate for a different kind of love story, Shifters is a tribute to the enduring power and fragility of memory and love.
This surprising and playful world premiere is a new Bush Theatre commission written by Benedict Lombe (Lava, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Playwriting) and directed by Bush Theatre Artistic Director, Lynette Linton (August in England, Clyde’s).
An Enemy of The People
Matt Smith stars in the critically acclaimed An Enemy of the People, Thomas Ostermeier’s bold reimagining of the classic play by Henrik Ibsen.
Doubt spreads faster than disease in Ibsen’s thought-provoking play about truth in a society driven by power and money.
When Dr. Stockmann makes an unbelievable discovery about the healing waters in his local baths, he holds the future of the town in his hands, but those with everything to lose refuse to accept his word. As the battle goes beyond contaminated water, barriers are broken in this contemporary production as Ostermeier shows us why this perennial class will be relevant forever.
For Black Boys…
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy returns to London’s West End in 2024 following three previously sold-out runs.
Father figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts – and imaginations – run wild.
For Black Boys… is located on the threshold of joyful fantasy and brutal reality: a world of music, movement, storytelling and verse – where six men clash and connect in a desperate bid for survival.
The Hills of California
Following their multi-award-winning triumph The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth, writer of Jerusalem, resumes his partnership with Sam Mendes, director of The Lehman Trilogy, to bring you The Hills of California.
This house. It’s called “Sea View”. It’s just I’ve looked out of every window, and you can’t. You can’t see the sea.
Blackpool, 1976. The driest summer in 200 years. The beaches are packed. The hotels are heaving. In the sweltering backstreets, far from the choc ices and donkey rides, the Webb Sisters are returning to their mother’s run-down guest house, as she lies dying upstairs.
Player Kings
Ian McKellen – ‘one of the world’s greatest actors’ (Times) – plays Falstaff in a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, adapted by the award-winning writer and director Robert Icke.
A divided country, leadership crumbling, corruption in the air. Welcome to England.
Bringing together Shakespeare’s two great history plays (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2) into the theatrical event of the season, PLAYER KINGS will reign over London’s West End for twelve weeks only – playing at the Noël Coward Theatre from April 2024.
Red Pitch
Red Pitch by acclaimed writer Tyrell Williams, transfers to London’s newest West End theatre, @sohoplace, following 2 sold-out, award-winning runs at the Bush Theatre.
Kedar Williams-Stirling (Sex Education), Emeka Sesay (The Power) and Francis Lovehall (Small Axe) are directed by Daniel Bailey in the award-winning production about brotherhood, ambition, girls, community, and what it really means to belong.
Red Pitch is the unprecedented winner of all 5 Major Best Debut Play awards.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Often regarded as the greatest American play of the 20th Century, this landmark new production will be helmed by award-winning director Jeremy Herrin.
O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play depicts a summer day in the life of the Tyrones, closely based on O’Neill’s own chaotically dysfunctional family. Deeply moving and uplifting in equal measure, it’s a compelling story of love, hate, betrayal and addiction and the impossible fragility of family bonds.
Following his recent acclaimed production of Best of Enemies, Jeremy Herrin’s new production will bring into sharp focus the universality of Eugene O’Neill’s beautifully crafted characters and language, to create an unmissable theatrical event.
A Mirror
You are invited to celebrate the wedding of Leyla and Joel. Award-winning actors Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting, Elementary) and Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education, Scenes with Girls) star in the “extraordinary and mesmeric” A Mirror, coming to London’s West End following a sell-out run at the Almeida Theatre.
Writer Sam Holcroft (Rules for Living, Edgar & Annabel for The National Theatre) and director Jeremy Herrin (Best of Enemies, People, Places and Things) take audiences on a surprising, entertaining and thought-provoking journey.
When creativity and corruption collide, who decides what is art and what is truth? Geoffrey Streatfeild returns to the role of Bax, and BIFA Winner and BAFTA nominee Samuel Adewunmi will play the role of Adem. Running for a strictly limited season, don’t miss this thrilling and “brilliantly mischievous” new play.
