Rose Theatre unveils 2025/26 season including new staging of Jane Austen’s Emma

Rose Theatre in Kingston has announced its 2025/26 season.

The season will include the world premiere of a new adaptation of Emma by Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning playwright Ava Pickett, directed by Rose Theatre’s artistic director Christopher Haydon. The production is timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and will run from 17 September to 11 October 2025.

Following that, RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Tanuja Amarasuriya will direct a new staging of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, continuing the Rose’s partnership with the Royal Theatrical Support Trust. The production will run from 14 to 25 October 2025.

For the festive season, Olivier Award winner Chris Bush will team up with Roni Neale to present a new version of Cinderella, with original songs by Matt Winkworth. The show will run from 28 November 2025 to 4 January 2026.

In February 2026, Monique Touko will return to the Rose with her production of The Boy at the Back of the Class, adapted from Onjali Q. Raúf’s novel. The show, which premiered at the Rose and toured the UK in 2024, will run from 6 to 22 February 2026.

The season will conclude with a new production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, starring Michael Sheen and directed by Francesca Goodridge. The production is presented in a co-production with the newly launched Welsh National Theatre and will run from 26 February to 28 March 2026.

You can hear Sheen, and creative director Russell T Davies, discuss the show in our exclusive free podcast here:

The theatre has confirmed that the majority of seats for its drama productions will remain available at £25, with additional discounts for members of its Friends, Family, and 30 and under schemes.