Hampstead Theatre reveals new season including 7 new plays and a revival of Tom Stoppard’s play The Invention of Love

Hampstead Theatre has announced its new Autumn and Winter season from September 2024 to March 2025.

Eight plays will be produced at the North London venue, including a number of new plays by first-time playwrights.

The season includes the world premieres of plays by Stella Feehily, Richard Bean, Beau Willimon and Jack Bradfield, the UK premiere of a play by Rajiv Joseph, debut plays by Daisy Hall and Jamie Armitage, and a revival of Tom Stoppard’s play The Invention of Love.

The season kicks off with the world premiere of The Lightest Element, from 5 September to 12 October 2024, by Stella Feehily and directed by Hampstead’s Associate Director Alice Hamilton.

The play shines a light on one of the most eminent astronomers of the 20th Century, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who one hundred years ago changed our perception of stars.

In October, Richard Bean returns to Hampstead Theatre with the world premiere of Reykjavik, from 18 October to 23 November 2024.

Reykjavik revisits the vanished world of the Hull trawler fleet that gave him his early hit, Under the Whaleback, and will be directed by Emily Burns who makes her Hampstead Theatre debut.

This Christmas, Tom Stoppard returns to Hampstead Theatre following last year’s production of Rock ‘n’ Roll, with a revival of The Invention of Love, from 4 December 2024 to 25 January 2025.

His play about English poet A. E. Housman will be directed by Blanche McIntyre, in this first major UK staging of the play in over 25 years.

2025 at Hampstead Theatre will see the world premiere of East is South, from 6 February to 15 March 2025.

By the American stage and screen writer Beau Willimon, the creator of the Netflix series House of Cards, East is South is a tense new thriller that dives headlong into the world of rapidly advancing technology. The production is directed by Ellen McDougall.

Hampstead’s programme for their Downstairs studio includes Bellringers, from 27 September to 2 November 2024, by Daisy Hall, a finalist in this year’s Women’s Prize for Playwriting. Directed by Jessica Lazar Bellringers is a Hampstead Theatre co-production with Atticist and Ellie Keel Productions.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Hampstead with King James, from 15 November 2024 to 4 January 2025, directed by Alice Hamilton, about the friendship between two men thrown together by chance and their mutual passion for basketball – and the great ‘King’ LeBron James.

Following a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, An Interrogation by Jamie Armitage premieres in London from 17 January to 22 February 2025. Inspired by real events this debut play by the Tony Award-nominated co-director of the worldwide phenomenon SIX: The Musical is a gripping drama about power, deception and our perspectives on the truth.

Finally, the world premiere of The Habits from 28 February to 5 April 2025, by Jack Bradfield, about the regular meetings of a group of fantasy board-game enthusiasts. Ed Madden directs a play that asks whether this is just escapism, or whether the skills they develop for the game are of use in their own lives.

Greg Ripley-Duggan, Producer and Chief Executive of Hampstead Theatre said in a statement: “Hampstead Theatre’s commitment to championing the original is at the heart of our autumn season – a season that comprises a line-up of brilliant, ingenious and surprising work by playwrights at every stage of their careers – from first-time writers to the internationally acclaimed. I am particularly thrilled that Tom Stoppard has granted us the rights to present the first major UK production of The Invention of Love since its premiere over 25 years ago. It’s a thrill to be working with Tom once again following the phenomenal success of last year’s production of Rock ‘n’ Roll which became the biggest selling show in Hampstead’s history. This season of work will be on our stages when we mark the second anniversary of Arts Council England cutting all funding to the theatre. But we continue to present new plays and productions by leading artists – this will bring the total to 22 since the cut – without the safety-net of Arts Council funding. This is only possible thanks to the philanthropic generosity of our supporters, to the loyalty of our wonderful audiences, and to the astonishing commitment and determination of the small but brilliant team at Hampstead.”

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