The best theatre shows in London (and beyond) to book in 2026

Hannibal Lecter was named the greatest villain in American cinema thanks to Anthony Hopkins’s chilling performance in the 1991 film. Now, Gina Gionfriddo adapts Thomas Harris’s multi-million-selling novel for its world stage premiere. When FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to interview a cannibalistic murderer, it’s hoped that his brilliant mind will help her to catch a sadistic new serial-killer, Buffalo Bill. But there’s nothing straightforward about Lecter, as we know. Casting tbc.

Curve, Leicester, Aug 1-15, then touring the UK and Ireland

Tickets: silenceofthelambsplay.com

Our Friends in the North

The BAFTA-winning 1996 TV phenomenon returns to Newcastle, the city where it’s set, in a new stage adaptation by the series’ original creator Peter Flannery, with Jack McNamara, artistic director at local playwriting powerhouse Live. The focus of this fresh theatrical version is two episodes in which Nicky, Mary, Tosker and Geordie (played in the series by Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, Mark Strong and Daniel Craig) come of age in the city during the turbulent early Thatcher years (1979-1984).

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Booking: Oct 15-24

Tickets: theatreroyal.co.uk