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January is probably the weirdest month in the London theatre calendar. On the face of it, it’s pretty damn quiet, with only August having fewer openings. But in fact most of the big celebrity-tastic December openings are still running for a month or two – it’s actually a pretty busy month for theatre if you scratch the surface – you may even catch the tail end of the pantomime season if you hurry.
An intriguing trend for 2025 is that the month’s two biggest new openings – Titanique and Oliver! – did in fact quietly run over Christmas in preview form, but are only opening for review this month when there’s less competition for column inches. They’re the big news in a month that also includes start of year mainstays Cirque du Soleil and MimeLondon, plus a smattering of fun, fringier fare.
1. Titanique
Ever wanted to see the story of the Titanic from the perspective of Celine Dion, who was definitely there? Well if so you’re in luck, with the UK premiere of this deliciously ridiculous, nuclear-grade camp cabaret musical, which has been a smash on Broadway and now comes to lighten up our January gloom. The premise is exactly as described, with a jukebox songbook that mixes up the greatest hits of la Dion with a handful of other pop smashes in the same ballpark.
Criterion Theatre, booking to Mar 2. Buy tickets here.
2. MimeLondon 2025
Although it’s a relative shadow of its days as the larger London International Mime Festival, MimeLondon is still a pretty serious affair, retaining the most prestigious bit of the festival, ie the big international shows at the Barbican. Perhaps the most eye-catching of this year’s wildly eclectic array of physical theatre shows is French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire’s hysterically ambitious take on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, which features ‘seven actors, 50 puppets and a whale-size whale’.
Barbican Centre, Jan 11-Feb 2.
3. Kyoto
Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson scored a critical and commercial smash eight years ago with The Jungle, the duo’s semi-autobiographical account of their attempt to set up a theatre in the titular Calais migrant camp. It didn’t seem to entirely be a given that a second play would follow – the duo have been very busy running their company Good Chance – but last year they returned with by all accounts excellent RSC collaboration Kyoto, a dramatisation of the 1997 climate summit that brilliantly made its protagonist a cynical oil lobbyist rather than an idealistic environmentalist. After getting great reviews in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2024, the Stephen Daldry-directed production transfers to the West End.
@sohoplace, Jan 9-May 3. Buy tickets here.
4. Oliver!
Although Lionel Bart’s classic 1960 musical adaptation of Dickens’s Oliver Twist kind of feels like it’s never gone away, the extreme publicity around the last big London production – which was cast via the reality TV show I’d Do Anything – possibly belies the fact that it opened 16 years ago. There are whole generations of young Londoners who’ve missed out on the chance to hear ‘Food, Glorious Food’, ‘Consider Yourself’ et al performed in the flesh, but not this one as Matthew Bourne’s warmly (if not ecstatically) hailed production beds in for an extended West End run.
Gielgud Theatre, booking to Sep 28. Buy tickets here.
5. Cirque du Soleil: Corteo
January isn’t January without Quebecois circus legends Cirque du Soleil decamping to the Royal Albert Hall for their annual stand at the storied venue. Quite how different you see each year’s show as being from the last probably depends how into the hazy world of circus plotlines you are. But Corteo – which has been knocking around as a larger arena spectacular for a while – has a decent reputation, being set in the eccentric world of clown funerals. More to the point, expect spectacular stunts and set pieces from some of the best acrobats in the actual world.
Royal Albert Hall, Jan 9-Mar 2. Buy tickets here.
6. Cymbeline
A bit of classy Shakespeare to liven up the season. After its excellent recent production of All’s Well That Ends Well, the Globe’s indoor season continues with Jennifer Tang’s take on another Shakespeare oddity. We don’t know a huge amount in terms of her conceptualisation of the late kind-of-tragedy set in pre-Roman Britain, but it will feature West End star Gabrielle Brooks as Innogen, the princess of Ancient Britain, with Martina Laird as her mother, Queen Cymbeline.
Shakespeare’s Globe, Jan 10-Apr 20. Buy tickets here.
7. A Good House
The Royal Court’s main theatre has flitted fairly wildly between experimental stuff and Well Made Plays since current artistic director David Byrne took over at the Sloane Square new writing powerhouse. A Good House looks to be an interesting example of the latter, being a new satire from South African playwright Amy Jephta about what happens to a pleasant suburb when a mysterious shack appears.
Royal Court Theatre, Jan 11-Apr 5. Buy tickets here.
8. An Interrogation
A little treat for police procedural fans here: Jamie Armitage’s 2023 Edinburgh Fringe hit follows a rookie detective’s increasingly desperate questioning of a seemingly improbable suspect in the disappearance of a young woman. Now it scores a London transfer with the cast souped up via the addition of Rosie Sheehy, who was so good in last year’s Time Out show of the year Machinal.
Hampstead Theatre, Jan 16-Feb 22.
9. Play On!
Making the recently concluded 12-year-wait for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 to come over here look like a heartbeat, Play On! Is a 1997 US musical that relocated Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night to a ’40s Harlem jazz club, with a score of songs by Duke Ellington. Now it finally gets a UK premiere, under the auspices of Black British theatre company Talawa.
Lyric Hammersmith, Jan 28-Feb 22. Buy tickets here.
10. Scissorhandz
It’s definitely not a bad month for parody musicals on the London stage – aside from Broadway smash Titanique, here’s cultier LA offering Scissorhandz which is (you’ll be shocked to discover) a spoof of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Featuring songs from Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Alanis Morissette, it’s produced by Michelle Visage and Lance Bass from *NSYNC.
Southwark Playhouse Elephant, Jan 23-Mar 29. Buy tickets here.