National Theatre unveils 2027 season including West Side Story and Joan Armatrading musical

09-09-26

The National Theatre has unveiled its 2027 programme A World of Stories, with two musicals among the biggest announcements as West Side Story returns in a major new production and the songs of Joan Armatrading provide the soundtrack to a brand-new British musical.

In total, 18 productions have been announced across the National Theatre’s stages and beyond, including eight world premieres, major revivals, a new Punchdrunk immersive experience and productions starring Paul Mescal, Emilia Clarke, Uzo Aduba, Emma Corrin and Harriet Walter.

For musical theatre fans, however, perhaps the most intriguing prospect is Glorious Madness.

Joan Armatrading’s songs inspire a new musical

Receiving its world premiere in the Dorfman Theatre, Glorious Madness will take the music and lyrics of Grammy and Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading and place them within an original new love story.

Rather than a conventional biographical musical, Armatrading’s existing songs will be “framed and heard anew” within the story, with a book by Iman Qureshi.

Phyllida Lloyd directs, bringing considerable musical theatre pedigree following Mamma Mia! and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. The production is a co-production with KPPL Productions.

It will be joined in the 2027 programme by one of the biggest titles in musical theatre.

West Side Story returns

The Olivier Theatre will host a major revival of West Side Story, retaining Jerome Robbins’ original choreography in a new staging co-directed by Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell.

Julio Monge, who served as artistic collaborator and consultant on Steven Spielberg’s 2021 film adaptation, will reproduce and adapt Robbins’ choreography.

The musical, with a book by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein’s music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, reunites Elliott and Cromwell following their award-winning West End and Broadway production of Death of a Salesman.

There’s more musical theatre within the wider National Theatre programme too. The Olivier Award-nominated The Little Big Things will join the National Theatre Collection in January, while the Connections Festival will feature a new original musical, Icebreakers, with music and lyrics by Tarek Merchant and a book and lyrics by Joseph Hancock.

And Pride, the new British musical which enjoyed sold-out runs at the Dorfman and Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, will continue its life away from the National Theatre. It transfers to London’s newly relaunched Bridge Theatre from 12 November 2026, with an original score by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde.

Eight world premieres

Away from the musicals, James Graham returns to the National Theatre with Major, reuniting with This House director Jeremy Herrin.

The new political drama explores John Major’s rise from Whip to Prime Minister as he succeeds Margaret Thatcher during a defining period in Britain’s relationship with Europe.

Indhu Rubasingham directs Moira Buffini’s The Great Indaba, dramatising the extraordinary South African meeting that helped move the 1998 Good Friday Agreement forward.

Oladipo Agboluaje’s The Adeyemis – A Family Saga receives its world premiere in the Dorfman, with Lucian Msamati making his National Theatre directing debut and three-time Emmy winner Uzo Aduba making her NT debut as Helen. The epic family drama follows a wealthy Nigerian family through a turbulent period in the country’s recent history.

Carmen Nasr’s Samira, set during the Arab Spring, will also premiere in the Dorfman. Emily Burns directs a cast including May Calamawy, Joshua McGuire, Lily Olufemi-Bywaters, Sirine Saba, Karim Saleh and Antonia Salib.

Natasha Gordon adapts Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr Loverman for the Lyttelton Theatre, telling a love story spanning six decades from Antigua to modern-day London. Gary Beadle, Gabrielle Brooks, Llewella Gideon, Terique Jarrett, Jenny Jules, Suzette Llewellyn, Jo Martin and Danny Sapani are among the initial cast.

Punchdrunk will also return to the National Theatre as part of celebrations marking 50 years since the opening of its South Bank home. Ghostlight, a new immersive production, is conceived and directed by Punchdrunk founder Felix Barrett and curated by writer Lucy Kirkwood.

The world premieres are completed by family production The Last Wild, adapted by Jude Christian from Piers Torday’s eco-thriller, and the musical Glorious Madness.

Paul Mescal leads return to repertory theatre

Paul Mescal will appear in two productions as repertory theatre returns to the Lyttelton.

He plays Biff Loman opposite Tracy Letts as Willy Loman and Monica Dolan as Linda in Rebecca Frecknall’s production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

Mescal then switches roles to play Michael Carney in Tom Murphy’s A Whistle in the Dark, directed by Caitríona McLaughlin in a co-production with Ireland’s Abbey Theatre.

Ciarán Hinds, Aisling Loftus, Peter Corboy, Eimhin Fitzgerald Doherty, Ryan Donaldson and Julian Moore-Cook are among the performers appearing across the two productions.

Emilia Clarke and Emma Corrin join the season

Michael Grandage returns to the National Theatre for the first time since 2010 to direct Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer. Emma Corrin plays Catharine Holly alongside Arty Froushan as Doctor Cukrowicz and Harriet Walter as Violet Venable.

Emilia Clarke will make her National Theatre debut in Plenty, directed by former NT Artistic Director Richard Eyre. David Hare’s play, which examines post-war disillusionment through former secret agent Susan Traherne, is being staged ahead of both Hare’s 80th birthday and the work’s 50th anniversary.

Mawaan Rizwan and George Fouracres will take the title roles in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Robert Hastie directs the Tom Stoppard classic 60 years after its original London and Broadway productions.

Meanwhile, Rosamund Pike will reprise her Olivier Award-winning performance in Inter Alia when the production continues on Broadway in 2027, joined by Jamie Glover and Cormac McAlinden.

National Theatre productions head around the UK

Ballet Shoes will embark on a major UK tour, with Strictly Come Dancing‘s Anton Du Beke appearing at selected performances.

Jim Cartwright’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, starring Francesca Mills, Jill Halfpenny and Paul Chuckle, will tour to seven regional theatres directly after its Dorfman run.

The Last Wild will also visit seven venues, taking the National Theatre’s work to primary school and family audiences around England.

The National Theatre’s digital programme will expand too, with seven new National Theatre Live cinema broadcasts planned for 2027 and more than 25 titles joining National Theatre at Home. The Jungle Book will also stream free on YouTube for a week in March as part of the returning Take Your Seats initiative.

It makes for an enormous 2027 programme, but from a musical theatre perspective the pairing is particularly enticing: a completely new musical built around Joan Armatrading’s catalogue sitting alongside a fresh staging of one of the defining works of the genre.

For Matinee, Glorious Madness and West Side Story are undoubtedly the two we’ll be watching most closely.

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