British Theatre News: 02 February to 06 February 2026

The first week of February brings three significant new productions to the London stage: Dracula opens at the Noel Coward Theatre with Cynthia Erivo in the central role, Shadowlands with Hugh Bonneville opens at a West End venue, and Broken Glass opens at the Young Vic. February's opening cluster is one of the most anticipated of the theatrical year, and these three productions together represent a significant statement about the range and ambition of the current London programme. Dracula has opened at the Noel Coward Theatre with Cynthia Erivo in a production that has been one of the most discussed theatrical announcements of the year. Erivo takes on twenty-three different roles within the production, a technical and artistic challenge of the first order that positions this staging as something quite unlike a conventional adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel. The casting of Erivo, whose reputation spans stage, screen and recording, has generated exceptional levels of interest in the production, and the decision to frame the performance around a single actor taking on the full range of the novel's characters gives the production an artistic rationale that goes beyond celebrity casting. The formal proposition, a single performer embodying the entire world of the novel, has significant theatrical precedents, and the ways in which this production develops that precedent will be one of the major subjects of critical discussion. The Noel Coward Theatre is one of the West End's most distinguished houses, with a history of significant productions and notable performances. The combination of a major international performer, an audacious formal approach and a classic text in a prestigious venue makes this one of the most significant openings of the spring season. The critical response to the opening will be one of the most closely watched events of February, and the production's position in the Olivier Awards conversation, as one of the last major openings before the eligibility window closes, will be a subject of considerable interest. Shadowlands has opened in the West End with Hugh Bonneville in the role of C.S. Lewis, bringing William Nicholson's play about the author's late marriage to Joy Davidman back to London audiences. The play, which explores the relationship between faith, love and loss through the specific experiences of Lewis and his wife, has been one of the more significant West End productions of its era since its original staging, and this revival brings a performer whose combination of stage experience and public recognition makes him particularly suited to the demands of the central role. Bonneville's casting draws an audience that encompasses both regular theatregoers and those who know him primarily from his screen work, and the production will be assessed on how effectively it uses his particular performing qualities to serve Nicholson's text. Shadowlands is a play that depends on its central relationship generating genuine emotional investment, and the combination of the two performers in the central roles will determine whether it achieves this in the current staging. Broken Glass has opened at the Young Vic, bringing Arthur Miller's play about a Brooklyn Jewish woman who develops hysterical paralysis on hearing news of the Nazi Kristallnacht to one of London's most admired subsidised venues. The Young Vic's history of producing and developing significant dramatic work makes it a natural home for a production of Miller's serious and ambitious play. Broken Glass occupies an unusual position in the Miller canon: less well known than Death of a Salesman or The Crucible, but no less demanding in its engagement with questions of identity, repression and the ways in which political events are registered in private lives. The Young Vic's capacity for intimate staging makes it well suited to a play whose theatrical power derives from the close observation of psychological states. These three openings arrive at a significant moment in the Olivier Awards calendar, as the eligibility window closes in mid-February. Productions that open in the first week of February have a limited but real opportunity to register with the Olivier Awards voting body before the window closes, and the combination of three high-profile productions opening in the same week ensures that February's impact on the awards conversation will be considerable. Les Misérables and Hadestown continue their runs as the new openings find their audiences, their sustained critical and commercial standing a reminder of how certain productions define the standard against which new arrivals are inevitably measured. For the full programme at London theatre venues, BritishTheatre.com provides comprehensive listings for current and upcoming productions. For tickets with real-time availability and seat maps, tickadoo covers all major West End shows. tickadoo also offers theatre gift vouchers.