Theatre Royal Bath announces star-studded productions for 2025, as new brochure is released

Theatre Royal Bath’s latest brochure is released today featuring details of more than 60 shows.

New productions announced include Small Hotel, a new play by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, starring Ralph Fiennes, which will appear in the Main House next Autumn, and John Patrick Shanley’s award-winning drama, DOUBT a parable, starring Maxine Peake, which will appear in the Ustinov Studio next Spring. Looking ahead to 2026, the Theatre Royal has revealed plans for a new community production of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield appearing on the Main House stage and featuring over 100 local people. For Spring 2025, Sunday evening dates in the Main House include visits by Miles Jupp in February and Nigel Havers in April, plus new productions have been announced in the Ustinov Studio’s Visiting Company Season and a host of exciting shows appearing at The Egg.

Small Hotel, a powerful new drama written by Oscar-winning writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz, will complete the Ralph Fiennes / Theatre Royal Bath Season next year, which also features the previously announced plays Grace Pervades by David Hare and As You Like It by William Shakespeare. Opening in Bath, this new production will appear from 3rd to 18th October starring Ralph Fiennes as Larry, an acclaimed television presenter and celebrity whose life is rapidly unravelling. One of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation, Ralph Fiennes has starred in some of the most-loved films of all-time including Schindler’s List, The English Patient, Quiz Show, The Grand Budapest Hotel, the Harry Potter franchise and the James Bond films Skyfall, Spectre and No Time To Die. The winner of a Tony Award for playing Hamlet, he has worked extensively in theatre, where his many credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Richard III, The Master Builder and, most recently, the title role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth alongside Indira Varma, with performances in Liverpool, Edinburgh, London and Washington DC. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s previous works include Her Naked Skin, the first new play by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage at the National Theatre. She has also written extensively for BBC radio and television, and her screenplay for the Polish language film Ida won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the 2015 Academy Awards.

Image: Ralph Fiennes & Rebecca Lenkiewicz

A new production of John Patrick Shanley’s award-winning drama, DOUBT a parable starring Maxine Peake will open at the Ustinov Studio appearing from 7 February to 8 March, directed by Lindsay Posner (The Deep Blue Sea, A View From The Bridge). One of the UK’s finest actresses, Maxine Peake has starred in some of the most watched television series of the last twenty years, including Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies, Shameless, Silk, The Village, The Hollow Crown, Inside No. 9 and See No Evil. On stage, she has starred as Hamlet, Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Winnie in Happy Days, and Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea.

DOUBT a parable is set in a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, where Sister Aloysius, the strong-minded principal has her suspicions that one of her teaching fathers is abusing a vulnerable pupil. Without proof, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. As the elements of her investigation come invigoratingly together like clockwork, the gripping story poses fascinatingly nuanced questions of moral certainty. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play, DOUBT a parable has achieved huge international acclaim, and was made into a film in 2008 starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Newly announced for Spring 2025, comedian Miles Jupp is set to visit the Theatre Royal on 9 February bringing his stand-up show, On I Bang, a tale of surprise, fear, luck, love and qualified medical practitioners, inspired by his recovery from brain surgery in 2021. On 13 April, Nigel Havers tours to Bath with his first solo show. The much-loved actor visits the Theatre Royal to share the stories behind his rise from fresh-faced newcomer to star of stage and screen with his signature wit and charm in A Fireside Chat with Nigel Havers.

Image: Miles Jupp

The new brochure brings exciting news about an epic community production to be staged in February 2026, when a brand-new version of David Copperfield will be performed on the Main House stage at Theatre Royal featuring a company of over 100 local people.

The David Copperfield story represents the universal quest for happiness, belonging and love in a compelling tale encompassing a world of characters across class, place and relationships, that resonates just as much today as it did in Charles Dickens’ Victorian England. A new version written by Mike Akers of the classic Dickens’ tale will be devised and directed by Olivier Award-winning Sally Cookson bringing visually stunning scenes to life from fantastic kite flying to thrilling storms and shipwrecks.

More details of the various ways to get involved in this exhilarating production - from performing on stage to volunteering alongside Theatre Royal Bath’s professional team - will be unveiled over the coming months. The production is kindly supported by The Miss Beryl Billings Charitable Trust. Chiefly it doesn’t matter whether participants have any previous experience or not: everyone is welcome. An open meeting will be held at Theatre Royal Bath on 26th January at 11am for anyone who is interested in being involved.

Casting has been announced for a new production of A Man For All Seasons which opens at the Theatre Royal appearing from 16-25 January starring Martin Shaw as Sir Thomas More, who will be joined by Gary Wilmot, Edward Bennett, Nick Day, Calum Finlay, Orlando James, Hari Kang, Asif Khan, Annie Kingsnorth, Sam Parks, Sam Phillips and Louisa Sexton.

Casting for Alfred Hitchcock Presents – The Musical, which appears at the Theatre Royal from 22 March to 12 April, directed by Tony Award-winning John Doyle, includes a host of musical stars set to perform in the world premiere production including Scarlett Strallen (Mary Poppins, Singin’ in the Rain), Sally Ann Triplett (Chicago, Cats, Mamma Mia), Nicola Hughes (Fosse, Porgy and Bess), Gary Milner (Evita, Parade) and Damian Humbley (The Woman in White, Merrily We Roll Along), alongside Alistair Brammer, Mark Meadows, Liam Tamne and Joaquin Pedro Valdes.

It has also been revealed that Miranda Raison (Spooks, Warriors, Anne Boleyn) will star as Ellen Terry, alongside the previously announced casting of global star of stage and screen Ralph Fiennes as Henry Irving in Grace Pervades, the opening production of the Ralph Fiennes/Theatre Royal Bath Season, which appears from 27 June to 19 July, directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Five new shows have been added to the Ustinov Studio’s Visiting Company Season for Spring 2025 including CAT The Play, a riotous comedy with a dark twist, appearing from 9 to 11 January, and Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act starring Nigel Miles-Thomas as fourteen different characters in a tour de force performance on 30 and 31 January. On 18 and 19 March, Box Tale Soup make a welcome return after their recent sell-out visit with Casting the Runes, as they stage Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Award-winning new play Birdwatching brings folk horror in a must-see performance from 20th to 22nd March, and Ed Viney’s new dark comedy Potlicker visits from 27 to 29 March, presented by Dorchester Arts in association with Lighthouse, Poole.

Image: CAT The Play 

Spring 2025 at The Egg Theatre welcomes The Snowy Day from 12-16 February, a new dance adaptation of the heart-warming wintry book by Ezra Jack Keats (for ages 1 to 4 years). Prior to its first UK tour, The Little Prince, returns starring Bath-based performance poet Toby Thompson in a playful and curious one-person adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic tale appearing from 13th to 16th February (for ages 8 and over). Based on Emily Gravett’s children’s book and directed by Lee Lyford, Tidy, brings a gentle but cautionary tale about the value of the world around us and what happens if we don’t look after it, appearing from 18-22 February (for ages 3 and over). From 27 February to 2 March, the first ever stage adaptation of Ross Collins’ much loved books sees Toby Olié bring Bear and Mouse to life through lovable, life-sized puppets in There’s A Bear On My Chair (for ages 2 and over).

The season continues when Let’s All Dance Ballet Company breathe fresh life into the quirky story of Snow White & Rose Red, loosely based on the original tale by Brothers Grimm, on 8 and 9 March (for ages 4 and over). From 13th to 16th March, Kininso Koncepts present Sandscape, a silent theatrical piece exploring sand which immerses the audience into a world of playful experience (for ages 2 to 7 years). On 20 March, the hilarious, tightly written, coming-of-age drama, bi-topia, listed as one The Stage’s “Top Shows To See” and a “must-see” at Glastonbury Festival visits for two performances (for ages 12 and over).

With live music and puppetry, Stories in the Dust, brings a funny, heartfelt and hopeful eco-fable to The Egg on 22 and 23 March (for ages 5 and over); on 28 March, Oily Cart brings When the World Turns, a living, breathing, sensory adventure expertly crafted for disabled children of all ages (for ages 3 to 19 years), and on 29 and 30 March, Great Big Tiny World, a show specially created for babies and their adults, explores how even the tiniest things play an important part in the world (for ages 0 to 12 months). From 2-6 April, Box Clever make a welcome return with two of William Shakespeare’s plays, including their visually dynamic and interactive production of Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth, the Bard’s exploration of the equivocation of evil and the unleashing of its brutal, destructive force, brought vividly to life in a physically and emotionally charged production (both for ages 12 and over). Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School are set to stage a Sci-Fi Festival featuring three productions during the Easter holidays, including The Periodicals by Siân Owen on 11 and 12 April, followed by Space Oddity, an intergalactic glam rock adventure through the stars, on 15th and 16th April, and Bob Carlton’s Olivier Award-winning jukebox musical, Return to the Forbidden Planet, from 17-19 April. 

For full details of the Theatre Royal Bath’s upcoming programme in the Main House, Ustinov Studio and The Egg visit: theatreroyal.org.uk. General Booking opens on 22 November, when tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on +44 (0)1225 448844 or online at theatreroyal.org.uk.