Arcola Theatre unveils 2026 spring season

Arcola Theatre has set out plans for its 2026 spring season, which will run from January to June and include nine productions, with six led by the venue itself.

Among the new work is the first stage version of Barbara Pym’s Booker-shortlisted Quartet in Autumn, adapted by Samantha Harvey and directed by Dominic Dromgoole (7 May to 13 June).

Also announced is the London premiere of Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise (2 April to 2 May), directed by Simon Reade, which follows a wartime correspondence between an army doctor and an aspiring actor.

The season begins with A Grain of Sand in Studio 1 from 23 to 31 January, presented by Good Chance and written and directed by Elias Matar. The piece draws on real testimonies from Gaza and uses a child’s perspective to examine the impact of conflict. It will also embark on a major tour.

Running in parallel is Safe Haven in Studio 2 from 14 January to 7 February, a piece by Chris Bowers and directed by Mark Giesser, which looks at Operation Safe Haven, a 1991 intervention to support Kurdish people following the First Gulf War.

February sees the arrival of Monstering the Rocketman, written and performed by Henry Naylor and directed by Darren Lee Cole, based on the libel case brought by Elton John against The Sun in the 1980s. This is followed by Bitch Boxer by Charlie Josephine, the hit solo piece set against the backdrop of the 2012 Olympics, directed by Prime Isaac.

Nicolas Kent will oversee Ukraine Unbroken, a set of five short plays by David Edgar, Cat Goscovitch, David Greig, Jonathan Myerson and Natalka Vorozhbit, which covers events from the Maidan protests of 2014 to the current conflict. The work features live Ukrainian music and will run from 26 February to 28 March.

April brings two productions running in parallel: the aforementioned Dear Jack, Dear Louise in Studio 1 and a new version of Iphigenia, adapted and directed by Serdar Biliş, with an English version by Stephen Sharkey. Iphigenia connects Euripides’ tragedy with contemporary testimonies from mothers affected by war today.

The season will conclude with Quartet in Autumn in Studio 1 and A Fine Idea by Christine Bacon in Studio 2 from 10 June to 4 July, the latter exploring historical and contemporary global inequality and directed by Charlotte Gwinner.