Lumbago Theatre Company presents comedy drama One Jab Cures All at The Tabard in Chiswick 14 - 31 Jan 2026

Directed by multiple award winner Matthew Parker

It’s happened. The ultimate scientific breakthrough. Boffins discover a drug that heals everything. 

Max is a scientist in a secret lab who stumbles on a cure for all diseases. His boss, Judy, decides to sell it privately to millionaires but Max wants it distributed free to everyone. He smuggles out a batch of samples to a nearby hospital. When his teenage daughter, Felicity, joins the rebellion, Judy orders a junior researcher, Vic, to guard her. But they fall in love and together they plot to seize control of the lab. Meanwhile Judy has a secret plan to deal with the troublemakers permanently. 

One Jab Cures All asks a question that scientists don’t want to hear: if they cured everything would they tell us? 

DARKIE ARMO GIRL by Karine Bedrossian returns to FINBOROUGH THEATRE 20 January - 7 February

A true story.

1974. An Armenian family fleeing a civil war, arrive in the UK with £35, a suitcase and the address of a relative. But that’s nothing new for them. They’ve already had to flee a genocide.

1976. One careless mistake. Nine months and one near fatal C-section later, Karen Mary Bedrossian is born into a perfectly fine life and grows up in a perfectly fine house in Richmond, Surrey. But inside her lies a secret deep, dark pain that rips her to shreds on a daily basis…

1994. Karen’s 18, homeless, penniless, and her only friends are a couple of heroin addicts and criminals. The solution? Start again. Become a famous pop star. Then everyone would love and admire her and she’d be whole.

Wouldn’t she?

DONBAS by Olga Braga at Theatre503 5 - 28 Feb 2026, Directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike

‘What do you do when your brother is trying to kill you, Ivan?’ 

Newly released from a Russian prison, Sashko comes home to a father determined to keep him safe as the world unravels. Ivan’s chasing Vera, Vera’s chasing the perfect Claudia Schiffer blonde – and overhead, in Ukrainian skies, the planes are getting closer.

From the winner of Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award, Olga Braga’s searing and darkly funny debut Donbas asks how people keep living and dreaming, even in uncertain times.

Donbas is a Theatre503, Good Chance and 45North Production in association with Seventh Productions.

ROUND ABOUT HOGARTH by Gareth Armstrong at Tabard Theatre, Chiswick 4 February – 21 February 2026

This lively new drama brings together two giants of eighteenth-century Britain — painter William Hogarth and actor-manager David Garrick — in a sharp, humorous battle of wits, ambition, and artistic conviction. Chiswick’s most famous resident, William Hogarth, reshaped visual storytelling through his groundbreaking paintings and engravings. David Garrick revolutionised the English stage with his electrifying performances and bold theatrical vision. In Round About Hogarth, these titans — masters of their respective crafts — collide. Garrick proclaims the supremacy of the stage; Hogarth counters with a stroke of his own that exposes their professional rivalries and tests a fragile friendship. Full of insight, warmth, and biting wit, the play explores loyalty, rivalry, shared passions, and a mutual love of good wine, revealing the humanity behind two formidable creative forces who defined their age.



THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM IRELAND by Tim Connery at Bridge House Theatre, Penge 10 - 21 February

Stage D’Or presents ‘THE LEGACY OF WILLIAM IRELAND’, a one-man show written by acclaimed writer Tim Connery, and based on a true story.

In April 1796, the play Vortigern and Rowena by William Shakespeare was, quite literally, all the rage in London. Such was the rage that the subsequent riots almost caused the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, to burn to the ground. This might have been due to the fact that the play was not by the Bard himself, but a fake written by William Henry Ireland.William Ireland is an alarming mixture of astonishing self-belief and crushing self-doubt. He is a self-proclaimed poetic genius, and an idiot according to everyone else. His father thinks he’s an imbecile, and can never get his name right. Women ignore him. No publisher or patron will even read his poems. William is desperate to have his father acknowledge him, and to have his own voice heard. In fact, he is so desperate that he starts writing in someone else’s voice, that of William Shakespeare.

LEARNING HOW TO DIVE By BRENDAN MURRAY Directed by WILLIE ELLIOTT at the White Bear Theatre 10 - 27 February

A grieving widow, an angry son, a secret lover… What do you say when you answer the door to a man you’ve never met before? Especially when you’ve known him for 30 years? Where do you start? Where does it end? And how about discovering your husband of fifty years is not who you thought he was? What then? A tender but unflinching look at the messy complexity of love, lies, loss & sexuality, LEARNING HOW TO DIVE tells the story of three people facing the reality of what it means to truly know someone. A rare chance for London audiences to see a new play by this internationally produced, award-winning writer. LEARNING HOW TO DIVE marks the return to acting (after nearly forty years) of Brendan Murray - joined by Darren Cheek (Regional Rep, West End) and Karen Spicer (Graeae, Diverse City), under the direction of Willie Elliott (Gay Sweatshop, Red Shift).

EXPÖSED at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre 17 - 21 February

Fashion designer extraordinaire "Ze Emperor" is on a ruthless rise to the top of Berlin’s fashion scene, but when his latest collection falls flat, he is in desperate need of something new. Rumours of a cutting-edge fabric, spearheaded by an innovative Parisian duo, may be just what Ze Emperor needs to save his reputation and claw his way back to global fashion domination! Featuring larger-than-life characters, a feel-good soundtrack and lots of silly jokes, Baby Lamb Productions brings you a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of The Emperor’s New Clothes, transplanted to the dog-eat-dog world of 21st century high fashion.
Following sell-out runs at the Bread & Roses Theatre and The Canal Cafe Theatre, and after becoming OFFIE-finalists in 2023, Baby Lamb Productions is thrilled to bring EXPÖSED to new audiences.

SadoMusical at Etcetera Theatre, Camden 14 February 7pm

Art is pain. Pain is art. Two “definitely not masochistic” artists take on the challenge of a lifetime: to create musical comedy with feeling—while feeling the real pain of electrocution.

In what may be their worst idea yet, veteran musical improvisers Lee Apsey ('CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation,' 'Your Flaws: The Improvised Musical') and Jayda Fogel ('Bird & Tax Collector,' '¡Horario Estelar!') weave hilarious and sincere songs, sketches, and stories with the inspiration of the audience and the threat of being shocked, shackled, dunked, and beaten with a stick.

You’ll be shocked, and so will the players—literally.

From the award-winning co-creator of multiple Edinburgh Fringe sell-out hit 'CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation.'

“Astonishingly funny… brilliant concept.” ★★★★★ GJD REVIEWS

YOUR SEXTS ARE SHIT: OLDER BETTER LETTERS at Star and Circle Theatre, Hampstead 17 February

Dear Reader, 

It’s Valentine’s season and Rachel Mars hits the theatre with a gloriously rude show that unearths the hot-as-hell letters that make sexts blush.Before sexts there were hand-written letters. And loads of them were proper filthy. With the help of the internet, friends and two sexologists, Rachel has unearthed missives dating back centuries. Triangulating these sex and love letters of long dead artists and writers with contemporary sexts and a meditation on the construction of the queer female body, the show is a tender and surprising hour that asks - how do we write ourselves and for whom?Bring your lovers, your ex-lovers or your perhaps-future lovers!

ORANGE FLOWER WATER at Old Red Lion Theatre 19th – 22nd February 2026 (7.30pm and 2.30pm on 21/22 Feb)

“For one second, it looked like they were really one person, but with two bodies. Connected. By invisible threads…”

Pine City, Minnesota. 2001.

David and Beth are the perfect couple. There’s only one problem: they’re married to other people. When their affair comes to light, both couples must decide to either leave behind a decade of their lives or salvage what’s left of love. Are kids, houses and shared bank accounts enough to hold it together? Or is it time to cut and run?

In a comic, explosive examination of love, (in)fidelity and family ties, Craig Wright’s Orange Flower Water asks: are Sour Skittles the new Gushers? When is an acceptable time to take a shit on the dining table? And can you build a strong foundation on damaged ground?

LAMBCO Productions present  SAVAGE by Claudio Macor at White Bear Theatre, Kennington 25th February - 15th March 2026

Gay conversion therapy remains legal in 170 countries around the world — including Britain.

COPENHAGEN 1940. With the Nazi occupation of Denmark, life did not change much. Zack and Nikolai enjoy the hedonism of the cabaret, see friends and are happy in love. Their world is shattered when Doctor Carl Vaernet discovers a cure for homosexuality. Nikolai is arrested, interrogated and experimented on in front of General Von Ascelmen, who is so impressed with the Doctor’s results that he appoints him to “cure” homosexuals in Buchenwald concentration camp. After several attempts the cure fails, the Nazis lose interest and send Doctor Vaernet back to Copenhagen. Upon the liberation of Denmark by British forces, Doctor Vaernet is arrested and interrogated — but when the British authorities learn of his work, they are keen to bring him to Britain. Feigning a heart condition, he is sent to Sweden for treatment on a British stipend and flees to South America. He remains in Argentina until his death, never prosecuted. After liberation, Zack and Nikolai try to rebuild their lives and rekindle their love. This important play exposes a heartbreaking love story amidst the brutal and savage true story of an obsessed and forgotten Nazi war criminal.

JEFFREY BERNARD IS UNWELL By Keith Waterhouse, starring Robert Bathurst at
The Coach & Horses pub in Soho

Due to overwhelming demand and after four sold-out seasons, Robert Bathurst (Cold Feet, Downton Abbey, Toast of London) will once again star in the critically acclaimed, award-winning immersive production of Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, performed in his favourite Soho haunt, the legendary Coach and Horses pub.
Meet Jeffrey Bernard…a notorious and feckless Soho face. A journalist who doesn’t know the meaning of the word deadline and would much rather be drinking vodka on the rocks in his favourite Soho watering holes. A throwback of a man who after four marriages and a life of non-stop carousing is starting to feel a touch jaded. Having fallen asleep in the Gents and waking up in the middle of the night inside the legendary Coach and Horses on Greek Street, Jeffrey Bernard is not a man to waste the deserted hours ahead of him before Norman the landlord opens up again in the morning.