Tickets on sale soon for Theatre Royal 2026 shows
Plus a few more 2025 attractions worth your attention
Theatre Royal shows come thick and fast with Matthew Bourne fans particularly well catered for, the current run of his famous Swan Lake (tickets in short supply for every performance this week and until April 5) to be followed quite swiftly by The Midnight Bell.
This will be the first time in Newcastle for the latter Bourne show (running from July 8 to 12) which was inspired by the novels of Patrick Hamilton whose own inspiration was 1930s Soho with its seedy pubs and bitter-sweet atmosphere – but no doubt given a sexy veneer by Bourne and his fabulous dancers.
The Midnight Bell premiered for Bourne and his dance company, New Adventures, in 2021 and the new UK tour begins in May.
But looking even further ahead, Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes is also embarking on a new UK tour in November and will be back at the Theatre Royal from April 28 to May 9, 2026 (tickets on sale to the general public from April 4 this year at 10am).
Inspired by the famous Powell and Pressburger film, it tells of an ill-fated girl who wants to be the world’s best ballet dancer.
Also coming our way early next year is the first stage adaptation of Inspector Morse (February 3 to 7, 2026) with Tom Chambers stepping into the shoes worn from 1987 to 2000 on ITV by the late John Thaw.
It hasn’t been revealed who will play sidekick Lewis, played on TV by North East favourite Kevin Whately, but the play Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts was written by Alma Cullen who scripted some of the TV episodes.
In this co-production between Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Simon Friend Entertainment, Morse and Lewis investigate the death on stage of a young actress – not a bad omen, hopefully, for a show that opens in Birmingham in August.
And will there be a spare seat in the house when MAMMA MIA! comes to the Theatre Royal from February 11 to 28 next year?
Not very likely, I’d have thought. The pulling power of Abba seems undiminished.
Then comes the Royal Shakespeare Company, back to the city it used to call its ‘home in the North’ with its latest and much lauded production of Hamlet, directed by Rupert Goold.
Talented RSC newcomer Luke Thallon takes the title role and Anton Lesser, no stranger to the Theatre Royal stage in RSC productions and others, plays the ghost of Hamlet’s father.
See it at the theatre which has hosted so many memorable RSC productions from March 31 to April 4, 2026.
Another to look out for if you like a classic yarn is an admired production of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s drama set in Alabama in 1934 which deals with racial injustice and was inspired by her own childhood.
The show, adapted by American Aaron Sorkin whose many writing credits include TV’s The West Wing, ran in the West End from 2022 to 2023 and won a Tony Award on Broadway.
The UK tour opens in Leeds in September and comes to the Theatre Royal from April 21 to 25, 2026.
Tickets for all the aforementioned 2026 shows go on sale to the general public at 10am on Friday, April 4 (and to Friends on Friday, March 28 and Flexi Priority Pass customers, Groups and Schools on Tuesday, April 1).
But before any of those shows even begin rehearsing, there are two more imminent attractions to look out for.
The talented students on the Theatre Royal’s Project A acting course are to perform Caryl Churchill’s 1994 play The Skriker in the Theatre Royal Studio from July 8 to 11 this year.
It’s the 10th anniversary of the course which has launched many young people from the North East on careers that might otherwise have seemed beyond their reach.
And if you’re wondering about that play, it’s not a football story with a misprint. The skriker is an unsettling fairy that manifests itself as many human characters and pursues two young women.
It also speaks a curious form of disturbing but mesmeric English, as in: “I’ve been a hairy here he is changeling changing chainsaw massacre massive a sieve to carry water from the well well what’s to be done?”
What’s to be done with that by the Project A cast we can only wait and wonder – but pass them all with honours, I say, if they don’t mess up their lines.
And another 2025 attraction that might have gone under your radar is The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical which the Theatre Royal are billing as “the perfect school holiday treat for gods, half-bloods and mortals” and an epic adventure to have you on the edge of your seat.
It’s an adaptation of Rick Riordan’s bestselling novel about Percy Jackson, a teenager who discovers he’s the half-blood son of the Greek god Poseidon and who is subsequently plunged into a disturbing world.
The show, with a rock score by Rob Rokicki, has been a hit in London where it’s booking until the summer. The UK tour starts in August in Windsor with Newcastle Theatre Royal hosting it from August 27 to 31.
Tickets for all performances can be purchased online from the Theatre Royal box office or call 0191 232 7010 - and look out for the 2026 shows going on sale shortly.