Cambridge Arts Theatre unveils new season following refurbishment

The Arts Theatre Cambridge has announced its spring 2026 season, marking its reopening after a nine-month redevelopment project.

The theatre closed in January 2025 for a £16 million refurbishment funded by Lord David and Dame Susie Sainsbury through the Gatsby Charitable Trust Foundation. The project, designed by architect Ian Chalk, has included a complete renovation of the 666-seat auditorium, improvements to audience facilities, technical services, sightlines and acoustics.

The reopening begins with the theatre’s Christmas pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, running from 27 November 2025 to 4 January 2026. The production features Matt Crosby celebrating his 20th year at the Arts Theatre, alongside UK Pantomime Award-winning actor Steven Roberts and West End performers including Tricia Adele-Turner, Matt Harrop, Tanisha Butterfield, Joseph Hewlett and Daisy Twells.

The season includes visits from Derek Jacobi, who will appear in conversation with Richard Clifford on 29 January, and Trevor Nunn, whose production of Noël Coward’s Easy Virtue will run from 19 February to 7 March.

Operation Mincemeat, on its first UK tour, will visit from 19 to 24 October. Other musical offerings include Guys and Dolls (14 to 17 January) by Cambridge Operatic Society, Rock and Roll Man (16 to 21 March), The Choir of Man (31 March to 4 April) and Blood Brothers (15 to 19 September).

Children’s theatre includes There’s A Snake in My School (4 to 5 May), A Squash and a Squeeze (27 to 31 May) and The Gruffalo (17 to 21 June).

Dramas include The Rivals (3 to 7 February) starring Robert Bathurst and Patricia Hodge, Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts (10 to 14 February) starring Tom Chambers, Single White Female (10 to 14 March) starring Kym Marsh, The Constant Wife (23 to 28 March) starring Kara Tointon and Death on the Nile starring Mark Hadfield.

OperaUpClose will present Gianni Schicci (or Where There’s a Will) on 15 March, and English Touring Opera returns with The Gondoliers and Pagliacci from 7 to 9 May. The Sixth Sense Collective brings What I (Don’t) Know About Autism on 29 March, featuring a cast of neurodivergent young actors from the local area.

Other productions include the Marlowe Society’s Twelfth Night (21 to 24 January), Murder, She Didn’t Write (30 to 31 January), Cambridge Footlights (1 and 8 February), Pulman & Stilgoe: Hooray for Hollywood (22 March), Spitfire Girls(7 to 11 April), the Glenn Miller Orchestra (12 April), Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses (15 to 18 April), War of the Worlds (29 April to 2 May) and comedian Stewart Lee (14 to 16 June).

Co-chief executives Rachel Tackley and Victoria Beechey said: “This season feels like a true awakening… the theatre is not only waking up its stage but stepping confidently into a new chapter.”