MURDER BALLAD And More To Be Presented At Greenwich Theatre In 2025

Greenwich Theatre’s 2025 season is packed with theatre, musicals, live music, children’s shows and a magical pantomime. In autumn 2025, the venue will stage Murder Ballad, their first in-house musical in two decades.

Last seen in London in 2016, Murder Ballad comes to Greenwich with its rock opera vibes, telling the passionate and gritty story of a love triangle gone wrong.  The 2025 season also includes five new home-grown productions with One Day When We Were Young, Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song, and family favourites The Three Musketeers, The Elves and the Shoemaker and Peter Pan. 

One Day When We Were Young (26th February – 22nd March) kicks off the venue’s 2025 season of productions. Tony Award-nominee Nick Payne’s heart-breaking story of two lives played out against an ever-changing world offers an emotive, intimate glimpse of the fragility of the promises humans make to one another. Beginning in World War Two, protagonists Leonard and Violet spend their first night together as the bombs begin to fall, and embark on a journey spanning six-decades that stretches the delicate, invisible bond between two people to its limit. 

Jez Butterworth’s Parlour Song (2nd – 24th May) is a blackly comic exploration of deceit, paranoia and desire, starring Jeremy Edwards (The Locke Inn, 2016; Hollyoaks, 1995). First performed at the Atlantic Theatre in New York in February 2008, before receiving its European premiere at the Almeida Theatre, in March 2009, Parlour Song follows the story of demolition expert Ned, with his seemingly perfect life in the English countryside. Outwardly his life is entirely unremarkable but things are not as they appear with missing objects, half a year of no sleep and Ned’s mysterious fear of his attractive wife Joy. 

Following a run of acclaimed family musicals, Greenwich Theatre’s summer offering will be an exciting musical adaptation of The Three Musketeers (24th July – 24th August), written by multi-award nominee and Greenwich pantomime favourite Anthony Spargo (Horrible Histories – Barmy Britain Parts One, Two, Three and Four!, Garrick Theatre and Apollo Theatre; Ernest and the Pale Moon, Les Enfants Terribles National Tours). Relocated to the French city of Carcassonne, one of the greatest adventure stories of them all follows the fortunes of d’Artagnan as he leaves home with the hope of joining the Musketeers of the Guard. This fantastic swashbuckling adventure features an unforgettable cast of characters including the Queen of Spain, the evil Cardinal Richelieu and of course the musketeers themselves. 

Also in Summer 2025, The Elves and the Shoemaker (30th July – 24th August) will provide the perfect theatre treat for little ones under 6. When a mysterious Elf-Inspector arrives at a struggling shoemaker's shop, they declare that the surprise visitor must go, but as the shoemaker and their partner watch the elves work their magic, they're faced with the question of whether these visitors are really a problem after all. From the creative team behind Greenwich Theatre's Beauty and the Beast – this retelling of a classic fairy-tale is a magical adventure brimming with laughter, filled with catchy original tunes and packed with mischief. 

Murder Ballad (30th September – 26th October) is a dramatic, razor-sharp tale of modern relationships, abandoned dreams and treachery in New York City. This boldly brilliant and explosive musical follows three people, disillusioned by life and caught in a secret love triangle that threatens to tear their lives apart. Uptown girl Sara is stuck in the middle, torn between her downtown background and her uptown future. As her past lingers seductively and dangerously in front of her, Murder Ballad questions whether the one that got away is really worth risking everything for. Staying faithful to the tradition of all great murder ballads, when songs of love-gone-wrong are sung, blood must be spilled.

Rounding off the year is the unmissable Peter Pan (28th November – 11 January 2026), written by and starring Greenwich favourite Anthony Spargo. With festive fun for the whole family, this pantomime builds upon Greenwich Theatre’s Offies pantomime triumph and is packed with plenty of comedy and sing-along songs. Audiences of all ages can follow everyone’s favourite boy who never grows up on a magical adventure in Neverland, with special appearances from Pirates and a crafty, ever-ticking crocodile. 

The jam-packed 2025 season also includes work from a variety of visiting companies. Cattle Productions will bring ‘rag and boning’ father and son duo Albert and Harold to Greenwich with Steptoe and Son: Live (17th January), offering the rip-roaring conflict and highlights from the smash hit BBC television series (1962-1974), live on stage. Die Fledermaus (31st January – 1st February) promises audiences unforgettable melodies, fizzy frolics and cheeky capers with a witty translation of Strauss’ enduring operetta, directed by Guido Martin-Brandis. Greenwich Theatre’s Studio Bar will also host a Valentine’s Day extravaganza as Jas Ratchford and David Thomas present the hilarious sing-along show Punchlines ‘n’ records (14th February).

There’s something for all the family at Greenwich Theatre in Spring 2025, with the highly-anticipated return of Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival. Kicking off the Easter month, Natural History Museum Presents: Dinosaurs Live! (5th April) provides a pre-historic journey for little ones. Mark Thompson Productions offers an entertaining and educational experience that will spark the imagination of all, as they bring dinosaurs to life on the stage. Fireman Sam Live! The Great Camping Adventure (12th April) follows the beloved children’s character Fireman Sam, as he bravely sets out on an animal adventure from Pontypandy to save a stranded Norman from a cave. Full House Theatre’s The Worst Princess (15th- 16th April) will offer families laugh-out-loud comedy, pop anthems and a larger-than-life dragon, perfect for princesses and knights ready to meet their new fire-breathing best friend. Other shows in the festival include stage adaptations of There’s A Monster In Your Show, Julia Donaldson’s The Detective Dog and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, alongside a special performance of Shlomo’s beatbox adventure. 

The final weekend of May will entertain music fans as An Intimate Evening With Paul Young (30th May) sees the singer reflect on his incredible career with songs, stories and the opportunity for fans to meet the voice behind hits such as ‘Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)’ and ‘Everytime You Go Away’. Following the release of his debut album Curtain Call, Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent vocal sensation Tom Ball will be performing at Greenwich Theatre in Tom Ball Live: Spotlight (31st May 2025). 

Tom Fletcher’s The Dinosaur that Pooped (14th June), adapted for the stage from the number 1 best-selling children’s books by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter will captivate the whole family in June 2025. Fitting for a family-friendly day out filled with new rock songs and laughs, Greenwich Theatre will also host family show Ministry of Science Live – Science Saved The World (30th August), bringing their explosive, anarchic look at the modern world direct from London’s West End. Based on the bestselling books by Liz Pichon, Tom Gates Live on Stage (31st August) will inject new life into the illustrations and music that make Tom Gates a worldwide sensation in a fantastic new stage show. 

Fans of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd are in for a treat in winter 2025, as music icon John Lyndon’s spoken word show I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right (2nd November) arrives at Greenwich Theatre for one night only. The frontman and lyricist of the revolutionary 1970s bands will speak on his extraordinary career and outlook on life, with VIP packages available. 

Artistic Director James Haddrell comments, At a time when so many theatres are being forced to scale back their ambition, we are delighted to unveil our most ambitious year to date, with major drama and musical revivals alongside new work for families, and of course the return of our annual award-winning pantomime. Having secured the future of theatre in Greenwich this year with the signing of a 24 year lease on our South East London home, we are now also branching out to present Nick Payne’s delicate classic One Day When We Were Young at the Park Theatre. With this new initiative, we can now look forward to welcoming audiences from across London to see our work, as we stake our claim to be one of the capital’s most important producing theatres.

It’s a year not to be missed next year at Greenwich Theatre – get your tickets while you still can! Tickets are available at https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/whats-on/. 

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