Musicals and stage shows to be screened for free in V&A Performance Festival

The Performance Festival 2025 at the V&A South Kensington will run over ten days and explore the theme of “Illusion.”

Through a programme of live performances, talks, tours, screenings and workshops, the festival examines transformation, disguise, the surreal and the spectacular across a series of free and ticketed events.

Each year the festival coincides with Shakespeare’s birthday on 23 April, animating the gallery spaces with performers, musicians, dancers and designers. Leading practitioners from across the performing arts will join this year’s celebrations.

This year’s programme includes the premiere of māyā by dance artist and choreographer Vidya Patel, performances by AterBalletto, and a screening of Ballet Boyz’s The Principles of Classical Dance.

Object sessions led by curators will offer visitors a chance to view designs from The Crown and costumes worn by Lily Savage. The team behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will present an interactive session on stage magic, and Japanese company Mochinosha and the Wishes will perform Shadow Kingdom, a shadow puppetry piece in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery.

Free screenings from the National Video Archive of Performance will run throughout the festival, including Nick Payne’s Constellations starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins (Duke of York’s Theatre, 2013), Art (Old Vic, 2017), Barnum (Menier Chocolate Factory, 2017), The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre, 2021), The Chairs (Almeida Theatre, 2022), Waiting for Godot (West End, 2024) with Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw, and Red Riding Hood (Greenwich Theatre, 2015).