Using the lens of technology, politics, and sexuality, King’s Head Theatre’s autumn season 2026 asks a timely question: who are we behind our public face? Some of the biggest stories are told in the smallest rooms – and this autumn, each of these stories is about the distance between the public face and the private truth.
Opening the season is the London premiere of the award-winning South Korean musical You & It (Thursday 20 August – Saturday 26 September) by Seoeun O and QLee. Set in a near-future world where humans and AI coexist, the musical follows a grieving widower who encounters an artificial intelligence created in the image of his late wife – and pushes the season’s question to its furthest edge: if a surface can be rebuilt perfectly, can it ever hold the person beneath? You & It pairs an intimate two-person story with a soaring contemporary score.
This international hit comes to King’s Head Theatre off the back of their acclaimed tour through South Korea, Taiwan, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Having won Best Musical Award at the 13th Daegu International Musical Festival, the arrival of You & It in London comes amid the continued global rise of Korean culture and fandom around K-Pop artists, film and television.
Following it is the return of the box-office record-breaking The Gang of Three, back at King’s Head Theatre for a strictly limited run (Thursday 1 to Sunday 11 October) before it launches a UK tour – the first show to enjoy a national tour from the theatre’s new home. Three cabinet giants, Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey and Tony Crosland, circle one another for the soul of the Labour Party and the keys to Number 10, their public principles shadowed at every turn by private ambition, loyalty and grievance. Set against a backdrop of economic crisis, their clash would end with Labour out of power and Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street.
Written by Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky and directed by returning director Kirsty Patrick Ward, the production returns with a star cast, including Alan Cox (In The Print), Hywel Morgan (Player Kings) and Colin Tierney (Rock ’N’ Roll). Nominated for an Off West End Award, and arriving at a time of new leadership and questions about the future. The Gang of Three returns to a defining moment in the past and asks what it still has to teach.
Finally, a critically acclaimed dynamic double bill of Tell Me Straight and Aggy (Thursday 15 October – Saturday 14 November) transfers to King’s Head Theatre, following smash-hit runs at the Park Theatre this March. Tell Me Straight is a witty and emotionally sharp exploration of desire and identity as one man confronts the patterns behind his pursuit of unavailable men. In Aggy, questions of privilege, race, authorship and performance push a couple toward uncomfortable truths as ambition begins to blur the line between authenticity and invention.
Written by Paul Bradshaw, both plays offer a candid portrayal of modern queer life in London and trace how people shape themselves under pressure from relationships, blending his signature wit with emotional honesty. He will star in Tell Me Straight and co-direct Aggy, alongside Imogen Frances, who will direct Tell Me Straight.
Rounding off the autumn season is the previously announced pantomime, Dick Whittington (Saturday 21 November – Sunday 3 January 2027). The third instalment of King’s Head Theatre’s much-loved family and adult panto, rags to riches, mistaken identities and the oldest disguises in the book, carries on a tradition that has welcomed Victoria Scone, John Owen-Jones, Christina Bianco, Ella Vaday and Kate Butch. Special guest stars will be announced soon.
Before the autumn season opens, King’s Head Theatre rounds off the summer with the World Premiere of Here Comes J. Edgar (Saturday 11 July – Thursday 16 August). Few twentieth-century public servants guarded a wider gulf between the official face and the private man than J. Edgar Hoover. Mad Men’s Bryan Batt stars in the titular role of the infamous leader of the FBI and one of the most powerful men in American history. A 1950s-style comedy-musical from the writers of This is Spinal Tap, Cheers and Seinfeld.
Zoe Weldon, Producer and Programmer, said, “I am delighted that King’s Head Theatre’s Autumn season features such exciting, topical and critically acclaimed work. This programme reflects our ongoing commitment to bold storytelling and to championing artists who are finding new and innovative ways to connect with audiences. It is especially exciting to be collaborating with talent from across the world, including our first partnership with South Korean artists on ‘You and It’.
We are also delighted to welcome back ‘Gang of Three’, which broke our box office records last year and from the writing duo who brought us ‘In the Print’ earlier this year. It also feels particularly meaningful to welcome back ‘Tell Me Straight’, a production that originally ran for just one week in our pub theatre.
Supporting writers throughout their journey and seeing their work grow is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do, and we are thrilled to present it alongside ‘aggy’ as a compelling double bill. This season celebrates both where we have come from and where we are going, and we cannot wait to see these productions flourish on our stage.”
Alongside the season, King’s Head Theatre continues fundraising for its Pay It Forward ticket scheme through the Golden Bells Scheme, providing free tickets to underprivileged children and families in the local community. It continues its partnership with the Mayor of Islington’s 11 by 11 scheme, which aims to ensure every child experiences at least eleven free cultural activities by the age of eleven. Over the past two years, more than 2,250 schoolchildren have attended King’s Head Theatre for free.
As part of its commitment to keeping tickets accessible across every show, each production will have a Pay What You Can performance, with £15 tickets available throughout every run. Further accessible tickets are available through the KHT Artists Club (open to all those working in the cultural industries), the Under 35s Membership, and the local N1 Membership.
The theatre will soon announce its Later programme, giving emerging producers a route towards mid-scale work and platforming innovative new writing and late-night entertainment. King’s Head Theatre is proud to continue championing LGBTQ+ voices, with the majority of this season’s shows telling queer stories.
For more information and ticket booking, please visit the King’s Head Theatre website.
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