The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, March 2026: Made in Britain
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is the story of an ordinary man of a certain age, living an unremarkable life with his emotionally distant, subtly passive-aggressive wife, Maureen. It is precisely this ordinariness that allows us to relate to Harold and sympathise with him. On the surface, he is an amiable, unassuming chap, but we come to understand that Harold carries a burden — and more than a few regrets.
On Our Radar: A Selection of 2026 Cultural Highlights Worth Your Attention in London, New York, and Beyond
With that in mind, we wanted to bridge the gap by highlighting some upcoming works in London and New York, as well as two beyond those metropolises, which we believe are especially worthy of note. Some of the works featured in this first instalment of what will become a semi-regular feature will also be the subject of full reports later in the year.
From the Archives
Dracula, Noël Coward Theatre, London, February 2026: Made for Television
Dracula is the final instalment of Sydney Theatre Company’s former artistic director (2016–2024), Kip Williams’s “gothic cine-theatre” trilogy, following The Picture of Dorian Gray (2020) and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2022). Each entry in the trilogy is a solo work that leans heavily on technology, intended to create a hybrid of theatre and cinema.
The Interview: Clive Bradley, Sunday 23 February 2026, London SE11
What’s interesting is that when we talk about the television revolution we usually point to The Sopranos and the early HBO dramas. But before that, in the 1990s, there were a number of shows working in a much more popular — and youth-oriented — idiom: My So-Called Life, which made Claire Danes and Jared Leto famous, and Buffy, which was still network television. Buffy does many marvellous things, but one of the most important is that it completely embraces the genre it belongs to: the teen show, the high-school drama, all of those familiar tropes — except with monsters. At the same time, it tells extraordinarily powerful emotional stories. I’ve watched the entire series four times, I think, and there are still moments that make my hair stand on end.
The Kael Report on TV: An Exploration of Television's Influence on Theatre
No art exists in a vacuum, nor should it. Cross-pollination between the arts is healthy and should be expected, if not actively encouraged, and television has played an important role in these exchanges. That cross-conversation can, on occasion, have a shrinking effect on a work — particularly when the impulse behind it is unclear or misguided. At its best, however, when handled with skill and purpose, it can be both illuminating and pleasurable.
Into the Woods, Bridge Theatre, London, January 2026: It’s a Jungle Out There
Many consider Into the Woods to be Sondheim’s most accessible work as a lyricist-composer — its basis in Brothers Grimm fairy tales offers audiences an easy way in. However, this being Sondheim, it also operates on a level beyond the surface.
The Kael Report in Conversation with … Alan Hollinghurst, 21 December 2025, London, NW3
For over four decades, Alan Hollinghurst’s writing has been a commanding presence on the literary landscape. He arrived on the scene in 1988 with The Swimming Pool Library — a dazzling début that struck like a lightning bolt.
All Up in My Mind: The Renaissance of Beyoncé
It became clear that the Cowboy Carter experience was intentionally designed to make us think — that the music and visual world she created were meant to serve as portals into these conversations, rooted in what I see as her ongoing self-exploration through art.
Death Becomes Her, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York, June 2025: Living for the Dead
One of the qualities that makes Death Becomes Her such a triumph is the sheer joy emanating from the stage. This, combined with creative confidence and immense skill, lifts the show into the stratosphere — and the pleasures are multitudinous.
The Kael Report in Conversation with … Adam Feldman, New York, 2 June 2025
One reason this is such a strong season is that we’re seeing a lot of original work. Compared with some recent years, there were fewer adaptations of intellectual property grabs, and fewer jukebox-musicals.
Maybe Happy Ending, Belasco Theatre, New York, May 2025; Smash, Imperial Theatre, New York, May 2025; Dead Outlaw, Longacre Theatre, New York, June 2025: Does Size Matter?
For all its originality, Maybe Happy Ending is built on foundations designed to play it safe — a paradox for a show so rich in visual and directorial invention.
Gypsy, Majestic Theatre, New York, May 2025: American Dream, Part II: Everything Old is New Again
One of the hallmarks of this production is how much it made me think — and how challenging, even uncomfortable, many of those thoughts were.
Purpose, Helen Hayes Theater, New York, May, 2025: Black, Live, and in Colour
Jacobs-Jenkins began working on Purpose in 2019, when Donald Trump was in his first term as president and Covid-19 was beginning to disrupt the world as we knew it. The shadow of both crises permeates the play, though neither is mentioned by name.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre, London, February 2024; Marquis Theatre, New York, April 2025: The Genius Myth, or How Not to Jump a Shark
I have not seen a single episode of the Netflix series Stranger Things, and after enduring the play, that will not change.
Sunset Blvd., Savoy Theatre, London, February 2023; St James Theatre, New York, October 2024: Everybody wants to go to Hollywood
Sunset Blvd. could have been a stronger production with a bit more conceptual focus, a rigorous examination of its many ideas, and some judicious editing of those ideas.