Welcome to Part 3 in our series of Theatre to see in 2025, following on from Part 1: Stars on Stage and Part 2: (Future) Hit Musicals.
A new year also means a new slate of new writing coming to theatres from new and established writers both on and off the West End.
This guide doesn’t cover the new writing you’ll see at festivals around the country – check back later in the year for more on those!
So, without further ado, here are twelve of the many musicals coming your way in 2025.
Theatre to see in 2025 – Part 3: New Writing
The Brightening Air at the Old Vic
Conor McPherson has an impressive CV, winning an Olivier Award for his 1997 play The Weir and picking up Tony Award nominations for Shining City and The Seafarer. His last outing at the Old Vic in 2017 was the Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country which also earned Olivier and Tony Award nominations.
He returns to the theatre with the world premiere of The Brightening Air, which won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. It promises to be “an entrancing tale of fate, family and unseen forces in 1980s Ireland.” McPherson himself directs the production with the cast still to be announced.
The Brightening Air is at the Old Vic from 10 April to 14 June 2025
Unicorn at the Garrick Theatre, London
Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III was a sensation over a decade ago, opening at the Almeida Theatre before earning West End, Broadway and international transfers. He’d had plenty of success before that with Cock, Bull and Chariots of Fire, but it was King Charles III where things took off.
Though his last West End appearance was the revival of Cock in 2022 with Jonathan Bailey and Taron Egerton, Unicorn sees him reunite with director James Macdonald and producer Kate Horton from the original Royal Court production of the play.
Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan and Erin Doherty star in the production which sees a couple welcome a new person into their relationship.
Unicorn is at the Garrick Theatre from 4 February to 26 April 2025
Derry Boys at Theatre503, London
You’ve seen Derry Girls, now you can see Derry Boys. Like Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, Niall McCarthy is from Derry and his debut full-length play follows Derry-born childhood friends Paddy and Mick who are reunited as adults in London, discovering that they have developed different visions of the future.
Andy McLeod directs the comedy that unpicks the complexities of the Irish identity in today’s world.
Derry Boys at Theatre503 from 20 May to 7 June 2025
Punch at the Young Vic, London
Olivier Award-winner James Graham’s new play Punch transfers to the Young Vic following its sold-out run in Nottingham last year. The play tells the true story of Jacob Dunne who killed James Hodgkinson with a single punch on a night out.
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Tony Hirst and David Shields all return to their roles in the play and with a slate of glowing reviews, Graham’s play is already a certified new-writing hit.
Punch is at the Young Vic from 1 March to 25 April
Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew at the Bush Theatre, London
The world premiere of Coral Wylie’s new play Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew opens in the most appropriate place – Wylie was a member of the theatre’s Emerging Writers’ Group and the play is part of the theatre’s artist development programme.
Wylie and Olivier Award nominee Omari Douglas feature in the play that navigates its way through a family’s effort to reconcile the past.
Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew is at the Bush Theatre from 8 February to 22 March 2025
Kyoto at @sohoplace, London
Set during the negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol, this new play by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson earns a West End transfer following its success at the RSC’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon last year.
Stephen Kunken returns to the cast under the direction of Olivier award-winning directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin about the art of the possible as the climate crisis intensifies.
Kyoto is at @sohoplace from 9 January to 3 May 2025
Manhunt at the Royal Court Theatre, London
The week-long manhunt for Raoul Moat who had gone on a two-day shooting spree, killing one person, blinding a police officer and leaving another person injured forms the basis of Robert Icke’s new play at the Royal Court Theatre, marking the writer and director’s Royal Court debut.
The final throes of the longest-ever UK manhunt bizarrely saw former Spurs and England footballer Paul Gascoigne show up to the scene of the stand-off between Moat and poice with chicken and lager – an attempt to coax Moat into surrendering. Will Gazza feature? We’ll have to wait and see.
Manhunt is at the Royal Court Theatre from 28 March to 3 May 2025
Backstroke at Donmar Warehouse, London
Written and directed by Anna Mackmin, Backstroke stars Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig as a mother and daughter in her new play that sees the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past when Bo’s mother Beth is admitted to the hospital following a stroke.
It’s the first of two London theatre performances for Greig this year as she also stars in the West End transfer of The Deep Blue at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Mackmin will be more familiar to audiences for her directorial work, including The Divine Mrs S. at Hampstead Theatre last year and Hedda Gabler, The Real Thing and Dancing at Lughnasa at the Old Vic.
Backstroke is at Donmar Warehouse from 14 February to 12 April 2025
Otherland is at the Almeida Theatre, London
Following the West End transfer of her musical Olivier Award-winning Standing at the Sky’s Edge which featured the songs of Richard Hawley in a love letter to Sheffield, Chris Bush returns with a new play directed by Ann Yee at the Almeida.
It follows the break up of Jo and Harry as they try to navigate the new separate worlds that open to them following their split and stars Jade Anouka and Fizz Sinclair.
Otherland is at the Almeida Theatre from 12 February to 15 March 2025
