After the celebrity blowout that was February, March is a quieter month for starry new openings in London… with one exception, as Cate Blanchett makes her return to the UK stage in a ludicrously starry production of Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by the great German auteur Thomas Ostermeier.
That aside, the biggest news this month is the return of three very different older shows. The RSC’s blockbuster My Neighbour Totoro will finally be hitting the West End after two seasons at the Barbican. The NT’s Gareth Southgate drama Dear England progresses to the proverbial third round as it returns in what we’re promised is a version writer James Graham has tweaked to account for Southgate’s retirement. And up-and-comer playwright Ryan Calais Cameron’s taut Sidney Poitier drama Retrograde becomes his second West End hit following last year’s debut at Kiln Theatre.
Other highlights of the month include the last ever show at the soon-to-close Yard Theatre, a second James Graham play (the man is clearly superhuman), and a musical adaptation of beloved ’90s high school flick Clueless.
1. The Seagull
After years of only starring in random avant-garde projects in the UK while saving the ‘classic’ stage roles for the US and Australia, Cate Blanchett finally does the decent thing and heads up a walloping great celebrity Chekhov. With the Aussie legend taking on the role of vain middle-aged actress Arkadina, we can still expect a reasonably leftfield affair thanks to provocative German director Thomas Ostermeier, in his first ever original UK production. A preposterously stacked supporting cast – Emma Corrin, Tanya Reynolds, Paul Higgins, Tom Burke – joins her in this new English-language adaptation by Duncan Macmillan. It’s functionally sold out: do ignore the mad third party reseller prices and give the daily £35 ticket lottery a whirl.
Barbican Centre, until Apr 5.
2. Punch
Hyper-prolific social and political playwright James Graham’s Gareth Southgate opus Dear England is coming home to the NT at the end of the month, for its third London run. But before that, here’s Punch. Written for Nottingham Playhouse and already roundly praised when it debuted there last year, it’s a dramatisation of the sad story of Jacob Donne, a young man who inadvertently killed a paramedic with a single punch in a senseless pub fight, and his route to redemption thereafter.
Young Vic, Mar 1-Apr 26. Buy tickets here.
3. The Glass Menagerie
Hackney Wick’s Yard Theatre is perhaps the quintessential modern London fringe venue: a theatre that dabbles with being a nightclub, it has gone from obscure beginnings to establishing itself as an influential and idiosyncratic springboard for new British talent. As was always the plan, the old Yard will be demolished later this year, with a new Yard due to open in 2026. It’ll be sad to say goodbye, but for now let’s enjoy its final show: Tennessee Williams’s poignant breakthrough play The Glass Menagerie, directed by Yard boss Jay Miller who has a boldly visual, surrealist style.
Yard Theatre, until Apr 21.
4. Clueless
There aren’t currently any massive Broadway transfers on the horizon this year, leaving this mid-sized adaptation of beloved ’90s high school movie Clueless as pretty much the biggest new musical currently scheduled to hit the West End in 2025. Like a less mean older sister to Mean Girls, Amy Heckerling’s cult 1995 film was a witty transposition of the plot of Jane Austen’s Emma to a Californian school, where well-meaning rich girl Cher Horowitz spends her time sorting out other student’s lives without thinking of her own. Noughties pop star KT Tunstall is an unusual choice to write the songs, but it’s good to see Heckerling on board as adapting writer.
Trafalgar Theatre, booking to Sep 27. Buy tickets here.
5. Weather Girl
It would be a stretch to say that California’s recent wildfires make Brian Watkins’s hallucinatory monologue Weather Girl more relevant than ever – it was relevant when it took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm last summer, because there are always wildfires in California. Julia McDermott stars as Stacey, a – you guessed it – weather presenter who snaps after being pressured to try and put a positive spin on central California's catastrophic drought. The hauntingly weird drama does not, however, go the way you might expect after that…
Soho Theatre, Mar 5-Apr 5.
6. My Neighbour Totoro
Downlist because it’s a returning show, but the RSC’s delightful Studio Ghibli adaptation finally makes the leap to the West End, having previously won hearts and blown minds during two limited seasons at the Barbican. If you don’t know what My Neighbour Totoro is by now then, er, congratulations I guess, but a new cast joins forces with the spectacular returning puppets (which have still not been included in any production photography) to bring to life the story of two sisters’ summer spent playing with gigantic furry woodland beings.
Gillian Lynne Theatre, Mar 8-Nov 2. Buy tickets here.
7. Dear England
James Graham’s Gareth Southgate drama was a hit at the National Theatre in 2023 and the West End last year. Back then, it had a rather open-ended finale, as Southgate’s tenure as England manager wasn’t over, but we’re now promised a different finale that accounts for him stepping down following last summer’s Euro 2024 tournament. At the time it seemed like the final result of the tournament could drastically change our memory of Southgate – and hence this play – but a scrappy advance to the final only to lose to Spain feels noncommittal enough in its way to probably not require Graham to rewrite too furiously. Gwilym Lee will lead the new cast.
National Theatre, Mar 10-May 24. Buy tickets here.
8. Retrograde
Rising star playwright Ryan Calais Cameron scored a walloping hit with his first major play For Black Boys Who Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, which enjoyed its second West End stint last year. Also debuting last year was this slick, punchy thriller about a young Sidney Poitier’s queasy first engagement with the white, conservative showbiz establishment at the height of the Red Scare. It couldn’t look more like a hit if it tried, and it duly makes the leap from Kiln Theatre to the West End.
Apollo Theatre, Mar 8-Jun 14. Buy tickets here.
9. Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors/Apex Predator
Fans of vampires are in for a treat this month. Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors is a silly, raunchy spoof of Bram Stoker’s timeless horror novel that has been wowing them off-Broadway and transfers to the Menier complete with its US leading man James Daly. North of the river and acclaimed ’10s playwright John Donnelly makes his Hampstead debut – and long-awaited stage returns – with Apex Predator (pictured), an idiosyncratic social satire than follows a struggling mum who turns to supernatural forces to help her take back control of her life.
Menier Chocolate Factory, Mar 8-May 3. Buy tickets here.
Hampstead Theatre, Mar 22-Apr 26. Buy tickets here.
10. Macbeth/Macbeth
You can tell the Scottish Play is on the curriculum at the moment: just a couple of weeks after the David Tennant West End production wrapped up, here are two more Macbeths, both intriguing. While the English Touring Theatre production at the Lyric Hammersmith (pictured) is, by all accounts, a pretty batshit reimagination that takes some seriously trippy liberties with the tragedy, the Globe’s production – part of its Playing Shakespeare strand – is a shortened version aimed at schools audiences, though open to all.
Lyric Hammersmith, until Mar 29. Buy tickets here.
Shakespeare’s Globe, Mat 13-Apr 20.
The new Bridge Theatre season includes massive revivals of Shakespeare and Sondheim.
The best new London theatre shows to book for in 2025.
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