By now, we’re sure you know what you’re getting when you book to see Wicked for £20, Mamma Mia! for £30, or Les Misérables for £40. But what about some of the lesser known shows in the New Year Sale?

For the adventurous among you, we’re here to highlight a few hidden gems in case that are taking part in the New Year Sale, so you can try something new for 2026.

Ballet Shoes

What’s it about? Three adopted sisters get taken into the house of an Edwardian explorer and paleontologist. Under the guidance of his niece and childhood nanny, the three girls grow and fight to pursue their differing passions in a world not built for women with ambition.

Why should I see it? The National Theatre’s adaptation of this 1930s novel was loved by children and adults alike when it premiered in November 2024 – so much so they brought it back a year later.

The three girls are full of fire and charisma; you can’t help be charmed by their never-say-die attitude. The set is like a madcap box of wonders that’s a delight to look at and the show will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy.

What’s the offer? Tickets for £20, £30, £40, £50, £60 for Tue – Thu performances in Jan and Mon – Thu performances in Feb until 20 Feb.

Evening All Afternoon

What’s it about? Jennifer is about to become Delilah’s stepmother. She wants to connect but they couldn’t be further apart.

Why should I see it? The Donmar Warehouse is a great venue – with only three rows on each side of the stage, you’re always close to the atmosphere which is perfect for these kind of intimate two-handers. Anna Ziegler’s last play, Photograph 51, won Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage Awards, with an Olivier Award nomination for Nciole Kidman in the lead role. This could be another award winner in the making.

What’s the offer? Tickets for £40 or £50 on all performances (19 Feb – 11 Apr).

Gerry & Sewell

What’s it about? Two Geordie best friends Gerry & Sewell haven’t got a lot going from them – with no jobs, Gerry’s family falling apart and Sewell’s dad in ill-health – so they set their sights on their ultimate dream: A season ticket to Newcastle United.

Why should I see it? It’s an underdog story that celebrates the unexpected hero in all of us, as well as the importance of friendship and shared passions. Like the story, the play itself is an underdog, having started at Laurel’s – a small social club in the North East – and earned its way up to a two-week run in the West End.

What’s the offer? Top price tickets for £40, £50 or £60 all performances – must end 24 January.

High Noon

What’s it about? In the the days of the Wild West, small town marshall Will Kane prepares to leave town after marrying Amy Fowler. But word arrives that Frank Miller, a vicious outlaw, has been released from prison and will arrive by the noon train. Torn between the honour of his new wife and the duty of his old job, Will must make a choice by noon.

Why should I see it? The 1952 Gary Cooper / Grace Kelly Western film, on which the play is based, is in the conversation for greatest movie ever made. While this play stays true to the source material, the production has changed its inspiration from McCarthyism to current world events to remain as timely as ever. Plus it unites two great acting talents in Tony Award winner Billy Crudup (The Morning Show) and Olivier Award winner Denise Gough (People, Places And Things and Andor)

What’s the offer? Tickets for £30, £40, or £50 for Mon – Fri performances for weeks beginning 26 Jan and 2 & 9 Feb.

Mrs. President

What’s it about? Already having todeal with the grief of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, his widow, Mary Lincoln has to contend with social attacks from an envious elite. She engages the help of the world’s first celebrity photographer, Mathew Brady, who helped her husband win the presidency. But their partnership soon unravels in a battle for creative control.

Why should I see it? The play is written by playwright and historian (and artist) John Ransom Phillips so promises to be an accurate and thought-provoking account of power, female agency and representation. Of course, if you’re less concerned with historical accuracy and more concerned with a barrel of laughs, Mary Lincoln is also the lead character in outrageous camp comedy Oh, Mary! at the Trafalgar Theatre – also taking part in the New Year Sale.

What’s the offer? Tickets for £10, £20, £30 or £40 for all performances (23 Jan – 8 Mar).

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

What’s it about? Set in the murky world of the Cold War, British intelligence officer Alec Leamas is ready to retire and ‘come in from the cold’. But following the killing of his most reliable source, Leamas is tempted into one dangerous, deceptive and personal final mission.

Why should I see it? This is the first stage adaptation of a novel by John le Carré, the master of the modern spy thriller. Performed in Sohoplace’s intimate in-the-round space with period costume, this a tense, sophisticated and provocative look at the political era that shaped the modern world. Must end 21 February.

What’s the offer? Tickets for £60 (£20 off) for performances on 21, 26, 27 & 28 Jan and 2 & 3 Feb. Last few tickets remaining.

Summerfolk

What’s it about? During the hot and beautiful Russian summer of 1905, Russia’s elite holiday in the countryside to enjoy the best things in life. But as the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?

Why should I see it? Maxim Gorky was one of Russia’s most successful authors of the age, with five Nobel Prize nominations, although he was also imprisoned for his work as he dared to criticise the status quo. This exciting new version by siblings Nina and Moses Raine (descended from Dr Zhivago author Boris Pasternak) promises to be a razor-sharp portrait of class, privilege and denial.

What’s the offer? Tickets for £20, £30, £40, £50 for most performances from 12 Mar – 29 Apr.

This week we’re chatting to Olivier Award nominee Anoushka Lucas, whose acclaimed debut play Elephant is part gig, part musical love story and part journey through Empire. It’s playing at Bush Theatre’s main house from 14 October until 4 November.

Who are your inspirations?

In my career I am deeply inspired by a whole cohort of (largely female) writers and performers: Fiona Apple, Afua Hirsch, Michaela Coel, Little Simz, Audre Lorde… I could go on. I am excited by intelligent work made from a place of personal passion. I am encouraged by writers and makers who are not afraid to use their own experience as a starting point to create something socially meaningful.

How did you get into theatre?

I got into theatre because I met a playwright called Ché Walker who asked me to write a song for a show he was developing, and then he paid me to write it. Nobody had ever paid me for a song before. After that we wrote 2 shows together, and I played keys in the band of another show, and then eventually a casting director asked me if I’d ever thought about acting and I took a gamble and started doing that.

How did your family and friends support your career?

I am incredibly lucky to come from a family who have always believed that making art and telling stories is important. My parents always encouraged me to write songs and make things up, and as I’ve grown up I have realised what a huge privilege it is to come from a family that supports your artistic career. As for my friends and my sisters: they have fed me dinner, lent me money, come to my gigs and plays, listened to me, loved me and sort of collectively kept me going as a human being so that I can function enough to make music and theatre. I know some really great people.

What advice would you give to young black performers dreaming of working in the theatre industry?

It’s an endless balancing act of trying to find where you can fit in to what already exists and where you can extend the mould. Find your tribe – like-minded people you get on with, who care about the same things as you and who make you laugh. If the opportunities present themselves, go and work with (or for!) people more experienced than you and pay attention in all the rooms to how it seems to be working: who do you like, who do you admire, where do you thrive, where do you become small. Support other black artists. Be cognisant of the privileges you have over other communities that are still deeply underrepresented in theatre, and support them. Everything is connected. And finally, if you can, make your own work. So many of the stories we tell about black people or with black people are still written by white people. There are so many stories we haven’t shown yet.

How does it feel to perform on the Bush Theatre’s stage in front of audience members who resonate with your character’s upbringing and identity?

I was blown away by the response to my show. For a long time I felt ashamed of not having more access to my African and Indian heritage, and I also felt such discomfort living in the intersection of being black and being middle class: I felt like to be posh was to not be fully black, and to be black was to not be fully posh. I also felt deep fear that if I ever articulated this, people would be horrified, because I was so full of privilege I was not meant to feel any discomfort.

Instead after Elephant I had many many many people of colour come and tell me how they related to my play, and I had deep, fascinating conversations about race and class. So much of this was down to the multifaceted, varied audience that the Bush attracts. When you talk to the audience at the Bush about navigating multiple identities, they understand. It’s such a privilege and a joy to put work on there. It is a very important building in the London theatre scene.

Discover more about the theme of Black History Month, Saluting Our Sisters, on their website. You can get involved in Black History Month by supporting Black Minds Matter UK, who work to empower Black individuals and families by connecting them to free therapy by qualified and accredited Black therapists. Find out how to support and donate to the charity here.

A piano came through the sky and landed in Lylah’s council flat, just for her. As she pours over the keys and sound floods into all the rooms, Lylah falls in love. So she asks her piano: Where did you come from? Why are you here? And their shared history tumbles into the light. 

One of the play’s principal themes is the interdependence of history and humankind. The play subtly yet cogently prompts the audience to recognise how the complex history of colonialism is not merely a history, but entirely a pressing and present issue. The interconnected nature of colonial history is aptly summarised by Lylah urging her partner’s family to recognise that ‘there’s so much British Empire in your living room. In you. It’s here with us now’. The play profoundly reminds us of this inescapable fact.

A beautiful aspect of the play is the way in which music guides Lylah. Her passion for music persists throughout the hardships she faces; she draws light to the visceral power of music, such as her exhortation that ‘the sound inside the piano travels into you, and we are all vibrating together’. Elephant demonstrates how music grounds oneself, yet is a powerful tool to challenge thought.

At school, Lylah can’t ask questions – she’s got to be good, good, good or else she’ll lose her scholarship. At home she can’t ask questions; her cousins say she talks weird, and her parents are distracted. Anoushka Lucas’ writing deftly illustrates how colonial legacy detrimentally presents itself in even the most unexpected of social situations. 

The way that the play switches between Lylah facing discrimination different stages in her life, including as a seven-year-old child (when she is too young to recognise it to be such), accurately and meaningfully depicts the process of reflection in later life, which is bound up with understanding Empire and its influence on us all. 

Lylah’s confrontation with her partner’s parents, in which she challenges their treatment of her, skilfully portrays the frustration which marginalised people perpetually face when navigating the social world. Having to modify and change one’s identity is demanding, and reconciling relationships can be even harder.

The set design allows for an incredibly intimate acting performance, allowing you to truly connect with Lylah’s character, as well as to lose yourself in the stunning music which she performs. Anoushka Lucas is an incredible talent with fantastic versatility – this show is not to be missed!

The Bush Theatre is a wonderful venue with plenty of ambiance – it’s a great place to have a drink, grab some food and catch up with friends. There’s lots of artwork and quotes up around the venue – it’s a real cultural hub. The Bush Theatre’s shows often challenge social issues – you’ll certainly leave craving to go back to see more.