10 Shows & Musicals Set in London To See Right Now

London’s relationship with theatre goes back centuries. It’s a tempestuous one at times: argumentative, self-critical, creative and the fodder for so many compelling stories. Right now, that relationship also happens to be creating some of the most exciting theatre in the world.

Whether it’s the fog-shrouded streets of Victorian Whitechapel, the well-heeled residences of Notting Hill or the political clout of Westminster, the city has found its way into some of this year’s must-see stagings.  

From a little bear from Peru who arrives at Paddington Station to be met with kindness, to a historic madcap plot to deceive the Nazis and the weird issues that crop up when you’re the first-ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer, here’s our pick of the plays and musicals that aren’t just set in London, but in which the city is its own central character.  

Shows & Musicals Set in London   Paddington The Musical

Paddington: The Musical has burst onto the scene as one of this year’s hottest tickets, scooping up the Best New Musical and a slew of other awards at the Olivier Awards 2026.   

Michael Brown’s classic story of a small bear fresh from Peru, who is lost in the vastness of London before finding refuge and friendship with the Brown family is brought to life in this charming musical.  

London is no mere backdrop either, the city is front and centre: from the Browns’ residence in Windsor Gardens, to a pivotal scene at the Natural History Museum – it is as much the beating heart of Paddington as the characters and songs themselves.  

Harry Potter & The Cursed Child

Palace Theatre 

Away from the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, London is Harry Potter’s city. The very real King’s Cross Station, from whose fictional Platform 9 ¾ the Hogwarts Express departs, is just down the road from the West End where the eighth installment of the series has been playing since 2016.  

Harry Potter & The Cursed Child picks up 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, with Harry now working at the London-based Ministry of Magic, as his youngest son, Albus, battles with the weight of the family legacy.  

Winning a record-breaking nine Olivier Awards, this is West End theatre at its most transporting. Plus, it’s being re-imagined from a two-part to a single part production as of October 2026 to make it more accessible than ever. 

Oliver!

Gielgud Theatre 

Much like the Charles Dickens’ novel the musical is based on, its the grimy and gaslit streets of Victorian London, streets filled with the with workhouses and market squares, that drive Oliver!’s story. A long-standing gateway to musical theatre on the West End, it’s been given fresh life by Matthew Bourne’s imaginary direction and choreography.  

Walk through the doors from modern-day Shaftesbury Avenue and be transported back in time into the world of Fagin’s pickpockets – one where classic numbers like Food Glorious Food, Consider Yourself and As Long as He Needs Me meet all-out spectacle for a show that’s as enjoyable and relevant as ever.  

An Ideal Husband

Lyric Hammersmith  

If Dickens’ Victorian London was a world of workhouses and pickpockets, Oscar Wilde’s was one of dinner parties, drawing rooms and high japes and intrigue. Wilde, who famously said of London society “It is entirely composed of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics,” wrote the perfect ode to that society in An Ideal Husband.  

Nicolai La Barrie brings this classic play where secrets mean power and reputation is everything to the Lyric Hammersmith this summer. They’ve translated the action to modern-day London – not exactly a difficult feat given that many of the places that feature so prominently in the play like Grosvenor Square and Curzon Street in Mayfair are still there today.  

Add to that a plot filled with scheming and social climbing over which the shadow of Westminster looms and you have a storyline that would still light up the gossip feeds on social media.  

Grace Pervades

Theatre Royal Haymarket  

David Hare’s elegant new play Grace Pervades puts London’s theatre history in the spotlight, tracing the complex partnership between Sir Henry Irving, the first ever actor to be knighted and Ellen Terry, one of the pre-eminent leading ladies of the late 19th and early 20th century stage.  

Together, Irving and Terry dominated the stage at the Lyceum Theatre as do the play’s contemporary stars Raph Fiennes and Miranda Raison. Delve into the story, directed by Jeremy Herrin, which looks at the true cost of a life lived entirely for the stage in what promises to be one of the highlights of this year’s theatrical calendar.  

Churchill’s Urinal

King’s Head Theatre 

Telling the story of the piece of Victorian plumbing that narrowly avoided becoming a constitutional crisis, Churchill’s Urinal brings a tongue-in-cheek levity to the true story of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves discovering that her office at 11 Downing Street contained a urinal that, thanks to its listed status, could not be altered or replaced.  

Written by satirist Rosie Holt, whose online alter-ego fake Tory MP has racked up millions of social media views, the play homes in on heritage, power and the hiccoughs that can arise when you’re the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer in the position’s 800-1000-year history.  

Inter Alia

Wyndham’s Theatre  

Rosamund Pike reprises the central role in Inter Alia’s West End transfer after its sell-out run at the National Theatre. The play tracks the life of Jessica Parks, a London Crown Court judge who’s determined to change a system she knows isn’t always just, as she juggles motherhood, friendship and career success.  

The city’s legal landmarks, including The Old Bailey, the Royal Courts of Justice and the labyrinthine system of Crown Courts all make their appearance – a city within a city in which writer Suzie Miller and director Justin Martin (the duo behind Prima Facie) build a web of taut, emotionally destructive theatre.  

Operation Mincemeat

Fortune Theatre  

In 1943, deep in the annals of MI5, a group of British intelligence officers conceived of a rather fantastical plan: one that involved dressing a corpse as a pilot, handcuffing a case of false war plans to his arms and washing him up on the coast of Spain in a misinformation campaign to flummox the Nazis.  

It might sound too fantastical to be true… but it’s not, and the resulting musical – Operation Mincemeat – is just as sharp and funny as the subject deserves. Sold out shows at the New Diorama, Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios led to its current life in the Fortune Theatre where it’s just been extended for the eighteenth time.

The Comedy About Spies

Adelphi Theatre  

It’s 1960s London: Carnaby Street is buzzing, the Cold War rages and James Bond is busy quaffing shaken not stirred martinis inspired by DUKES Bar. At the same time, some far less competent operatives are trying to avert catastrophe – at least that’s the premise for the laugh out loud caper The Comedy about Spies.  

When a rogue British agent gets his hands on plans for a top-secret weapon, CIA and KGB agents swarm The Picadilly Hotel, joined by a host of characters including an actor auditioning for none other than… a spy movie. The result is double-crossings and misunderstandings aplenty, a smattering of bumbling incompetence and a rather enchanting comedy from the same team that brought us The Play That Goes Wrong.  

Sherlock Holmes

Watching a play at Regent Park’s open-air theatre during the summer months is one of the quintessential London experiences: even more so with the new Sherlock Holmes mystery playing in May and June.  

Set in London in 1890, this brand-new Sherlock story picks its way through a city expanding so rapidly it’s consuming everything in its path. Holmes and Watson race against time, trying to serve a mystery involving an unknown woman, a mysterious jewel and the city itself.  

Written by Joel Horwood, directed by Sean Holmes and starring Joshua James as Sherlock Holmes alongside Jyuddah James as Dr Watson it’s a theatrical spectacle packed with intrigue and suspense.  

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📷 Main photo: Paddington The Musical at the Savoy Theatre. Paddington Bear. Photo by Johan Persson

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