TOP PICKS OF
SHOWS TO SEE
CHECK OUT OUR WHAT'S ON PAGES HERE for more shows at London pub theatres
Award nominated actor Emeka Agada brings his play THE LAST BLACK MESSIAH to Etcetera, with further political plays being high on the agenda for September and October. Our recommendations are below.
Drama A FAN OF WAR by acclaimed playwright Polina Polozhentseva at Barons Court Theatre 26 - 30 August
An ironic, sharp-witted, and deeply moving new play exploring what it means to live with war when you’re not at war.
Our protagonist stands at a strange crossroads. Her mother remains in Ukraine, waking each day to the threat of bombs & the courage of survival. Meanwhile, her foreign boyfriend, blissfully indifferent to the world’s chaos, insists on living in the moment – as if the news is just a bad episode of a soap opera he can’t be bothered to watch. As she navigates daily life in relative safety, each ping of her phone from home stirs panic, guilt, or helplessness. Is it possible to feel joy while others suffer? To laugh and make love while war continues elsewhere? With wit, intimacy, & heart, A Fan of War tackles the absurdity of modern war’s reach: how it shapes our relationships, interrupts our pleasures, tug&s relentlessly at our conscience.
Drama THE LAST BLACK MESSIAH by Emeka Agada at Etcetera Theatre, Camden 27 – 29 August
Starring award nominated actor Emeka Agada with Kenneth Butler / Directed by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller who recently directed ‘Press’ (★★★★★ “Genius” – Broadway Baby)
Set in a fractured America transitioning from the Reagan era into the Bush presidency, The Last Black Messiah is a touching two-hander political drama that unfolds inside a prison. Dr. Oko, an ex-professor and black revolutionary leader, awaits his execution. When his former student makes a surprise visit to the once renowned professor, not everything is as it seems. Through memories and clashing convictions, the play explores the struggle for power and justice in a nation whose priorities overlook the needs of the people.
Festival SE Fest 2 - 13 September
SE Fest is a theatre festival based in southeast London to promote and celebrate new writing. It is hosted for the second year by neighbouring venues, The Jack Studio in Crofton Park & The Bridge House Theatre in Penge, two award-winning theatres with a reputation for supporting & presenting new work.
Jack Studio Theatre programme of shows
The Bridge House Theatre programme of shows
Drama STILL HERE at Golden Goose Theatre 2 - 6 September
In Mari Lloyd’s acclaimed play, we see the world through the eyes of two sparring 18-year-olds in a small Welsh ex-mining town as they try to comprehend the actions of their parents and begin to realise they have bigger things to fight for.
Award nominated STILL HERE returns with the original cast for a limited run after a successful tour in South Wales.
'A heartfelt triumph' The Edit
Drama AT LAST (2025) at Lion and Unicorn Theatre 2 - 13 September
The old world has fallen and something brave and new has taken its place.
Out of the fire and rubble and the ashes something new is born. A chance to learn about the past. A chance to find hope anew, or to tear open wounds which will never close again. This is the story of ten years of hate. Ten years of oppression and anger when we gave ourselves up to the dark. A story of the mother who fought for her broken sons, and the father that stood in judgement. The daughter willing to pay the ultimate price for freedom, the man who stood by and watched and the woman that listened.
This is the story of when the world went mad.
It is time to tell the truth.
At Last.
Proforca Theatre Company returns this September with "At Last" - after 5 years away, it is more potent and relevant than ever. "At Last" tells the "what if" story of the aftermath of 10 years of a totalitarian right wing regime in the UK, a searing search for redemption and reconciliation in the rubble of a broken society.
Drama DR FREUD WILL SEE YOU NOW, MRS HITLER at Upstairs at the Gatehouse 4 Sep - 28 September 2025
Chromolume Productions
Sigmund Freud and Adolf Hitler never met. But what if they had?
Would the world be a better place if the 20th century's greatest psychopath had been treated by the 20th century's greatest psychoanalyst?
It could have happened: At the fag-end of the 19th century, Mrs Hitler took the infant Adolf to her GP because the child was suffering from nightmares and bedwetting. The doctor was out of his depth. He suggested she take her son to a new clinic for children with 'nervous disorders' which had just been opened in Vienna by a Doctor Freud. Her abusive husband wouldn't hear of it. But what if Mrs Hitler had defied him and young Adolf did end up on Freud's iconic couch?
Relaxed SCAFFOLDING by Lucy Bell at Drayton Arms Theatre 23 - 27 September 7.30pm
“Put simply, Scaffolding is why we go to the theatre” – Western Morning News
4* “Little gem of a play” – The Stage
4* “Funny, frank and clear-sighted” – The Scotsman
4* “Clever and affecting” – Bouquets & Brickbats
“A beautiful act of trust” – The Independent
Sheridan is having a bad day. Her church is closing, Adult Social Care are on her case, and she can’t work out which ingredients she needs to make a bomb. With no one else to turn to, she climbs the scaffolding around a leaking steeple with a few questions for Whoever Is In Charge.
Following a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe, Scaffolding is an explosive new play about strength, love and community performed by Kerry Norton and directed by Natalie Simone. Award-winning writer Lucy Bell (Kevin Elyot and Ronald Duncan Awards) brings dark, car-crash humour in a dramatic collision between religious faith, the responsibilities of caring for loved ones with disabilities and the profound loss of shared community spaces in rural areas.
Festival LAMBETH FRINGE FESTIVAL (Formerly Clapham Fringe) RETURNS SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER CELEBRATING 10 YEARS WITH A PROGRAMME OF OVER 200 EVENTS 25 September - 25 October
Celebrating the vibrant culture & community of Lambeth, platforming underrepresented voices in the arts, produced by the team behind Bread and Roses Theatre in Clapham. The 2025 programme features theatre, comedy, cabaret, music and family.
Participating pub theatres include
Bread and Roses Theatre in Clapham,
White Bear Theatre in kennington and
Golden Goose Theatre in Camberwell.
Comedy Drama MAKE ENGLAND GREAT AGAIN at Upstairs at the Gatehouse 30 Sept - 19 Oct 2025
Francis Beckett’s new play Make England Great Again is set just after the Britons First Party wins its first ever general election victory, and its charismatic leader Max Moore enters 10 Downing Street.
It’s a comedy, but also a warning.
Francis Beckett’s last three plays have had successful runs at Upstairs at the Gatehouse. The New Statesman called A Modest Little Man “a moving and entertaining play about Clement Attlee.”
In The House Magazine, John McDonnell MP wrote of Vodka with Stalin: “As always with Francis’s work, you can’t fail to become emotionally close to the characters.”
Psst ... more shows being added each week
