You don’t need a crystal ball to see the likely highlights of the coming months

For decades, picking theatre treats for the following year was largely limited to premieres soon after Hogmanay, as many repertory theatres only announced a couple of shows at a time. But after the pandemic, and with the economic crisis, everything has changed. Many playhouses aim to get cash in the bank by selling tickets a year ahead, sometimes on an American discount subscription model: pick favoured shows and get cheaper tickets to others. Added to which, casting big-name screen stars to draw audiences and bring in much needed revenue means well-known actors are secured long in advance, due to the often distant gaps in their TV or movie diaries. All of which means that for 2026 we can pick potential highlights well into next winter. And there’s another trend, which perhaps reflects our tense and contested times. There’s a big rise in revivals with religious or spiritual content: including Jesus and C.S. Lewis as protagonists, T.S. Eliot’s ecclesiastical masterpiece and Shakespeare’s theatrical last testament.

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