Get to know these fantastic new London theatres

New arrivals include the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, @sohoplace, and exciting additions for 2025.

London is home to numerous historic theatres, especially in the West End, but the city is also constantly welcoming new venues. These include flexible spaces which can be transformed into a range of different configurations, including in-the-round staging or promenade – ideal for immersive productions.

Some of these new theatres become home to one show for a long time, such as the Troubadour Wembley Park’s current popular occupant Starlight Express – a production for which the theatre was specifically, and brilliantly, redesigned. They can also welcome everything from world premieres and bold revivals to hit transfers, like the West End’s exciting new occupant @sohoplace.

Get to know London’s new theatres and the shows you can catch there.

Book tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

This enormous venue in north-west London was originally a movie studio and then became Fountain Studios, home to TV programmes including The X Factor, Pop Idol and Britain’s Got Talent. It was turned into a theatre in 2019, with a huge capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000.

The Troubadour Wembley Park opened with a run of the National Theatre’s award-winning production of War Horse, and went on to stage everything from family fun with Dinosaur World Live to hit tours such as Fame The Musical, Rambert Dance adaptation Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, and the Olivier Award-winning UK premiere of musical Newsies.

Now the theatre is the proud home of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe’s Starlight Express. The venue is the ideal spot for this thrill ride of a musical: the flexible space allows for the track on which the train characters race to weave around and through the audience in Luke Sheppard’s propulsive revival. It’s a prime example of how a new London theatre can provide a unique audience experience.

Book Starlight Express tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

@sohoplace

There is no end to the possibilities at this dynamic gem of a venue, the first new-build West End theatre in 50 years. Soho Place, styled as @sohoplace, opened in 2022 and was the brainchild of the hugely successful producer Nica Burns. Like the Troubadour, it’s a rare flexible space, so writers, directors, actors and designers can let their imaginations run wild.

That has definitely been reflected in the diverse programming at the venue, which is wonderfully intimate (the capacity is around 600) but never feels small-scale in ambition. The theatre has been a vital West End transfer house for vital new work, including Red Pitch (from the Bush Theatre), Kyoto (RSC), and the Death of England plays (National Theatre).

We’ve also seen extraordinary productions of classical plays, including As You Like It and Medea, and notable premieres: the stage adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, starring Hollywood actors Mike Faist and Lucas Hedges, and the Olivier Award-winning musical The Little Big Things, which featured wheelchair-using actors – a key benefit of this accessible new venue.

Next up is David Ireland’s provocative new play The Fifth Step, starring Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) and Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as two men who meet through Alcoholics Anonymous, and whose revelations threaten both their trust and their recovery. The play comes to @sohoplace following an acclaimed run in Edinburgh.

Book The Fifth Step tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Capital Theatre

This year sees the arrival of new venue Capital Theatre at Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush. This purpose-built auditorium will have a capacity of 620 and comes from the brilliant design team who masterminded the Bridge Theatre and transformed the Playhouse Theatre into the Kit Kat Club for the West End’s hit revival of Cabaret.

Like @sohoplace, Capital Theatre will be an intimate venue – in fact, no seat in the house will be more than nine rows from the stage. There will also be on-site facilities such as rehearsal rooms, technical support areas, offices, a foyer café and a box office, so we can expect plenty of exciting productions in future.

The theatre will debut with a beloved movie adaptation: Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage. This worldwide smash-hit production transports audiences to Kellerman’s resort in 1963 where nobody puts Baby in a corner. A company of 40, including a live band, bring the iconic story to life, from carrying a watermelon to Johnny and Baby doing the famous lift to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”.

Book Dirty Dancing tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre

We’ve got another new venue in town for 2025 – and it’s a sister theatre to the Troubadour Wembley Park. Over in east London, the state-of-the-art Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre will open its doors this October, welcoming audiences to a major cultural event: the keenly anticipated stage adaptation of The Hunger Games.

This 1,200-seat venue has been specially design for what promises to be a high-flying, high-tech, never-before-seen spectacular. Seating is in the round, providing a 360-degree view of the action, and the new venue will also provide amenities such as two stylish bars, a restaurant, and a terrace overlooking the water.

Fans of Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games novels will be eager to discover how the world of Panem is re-created in theatre form, from the distinctive Districts to the lavish Capital and the Hunger Games arena, and which actors are cast in the iconic lead roles, especially revolutionary heroine (and skilled archer) Katniss Everdeen, played in the movie adaptation by Jennifer Lawrence.

The stage version is being scripted by the Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (The Weir, Girl from the North Country, The Brightening Air), directed by Matthew Dunster (2:22 A Ghost Story, Hangmen), and designed by Miriam Buether (Stranger Things: The First Shadow).

Check back for The Hunger Games tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

The Crown

Where would Oscar Wilde be partying now? A hit underground New York musical, now coming to London, has a surprising answer – and it also invites you to go wild for a new, thrillingly immersive venue on Tottenham Court Road. Unlike a traditional theatre, here the audience largely remains standing, among the performers, and the bar is open throughout.

Originating in Brooklyn, Oscar at The Crown takes place in a neon-lit, purpose-built bunker space in central London. Descend into its depths and enter an unforgettable dystopian world: in a futuristic fascist state, Oscar Wilde and his gang, including Lord Alfred Douglas, are gathered with their fellow exiles. It’s Mad Max meets Rocky Horror.

Featuring a heart-pounding electro-pop score by RuPaul’s Drag Race songwriter Andrew Barret Cox, it’s not just a show but a whole nightclub experience – which is why it needs a new venue for audiences to thoroughly experience it. You’re part of the bunker crew, enjoying the hedonistic freedoms of partying like there’s no tomorrow.

Book Oscar at The Crown tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Evolution London

Grease is the word for Secret Cinema’s latest trip to the movies, and this keenly anticipated school reunion at Rydell High involves transforming the Evolution London events space at Battersea Park. This is the first of three Secret Cinema events to be held in this new, generously sized central London location.

Total immersion is key to the Secret Cinema experience, which places you right inside the story. In the case of Grease, that means getting to be there when Danny and Sandy lock eyes, when the T-Birds work on Grease Lightnin’, for the jive contest and the National Bandstand Day Carnival. You can also stop for a burger and shake at the classic American diner – and, of course, you can dress up.

Evolution London is a fantastic home for that all-encompassing movie musical experience. The purpose-built site in the midst of the London park has a massive capacity (around 3,000 for a theatre-based show), and a mix of indoor and outdoor that should be ideal for Grease’s locations. Few other venues could accommodate an entire fairground – one where we go together!

Book Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: AHMM and Tim Soar