STAGES is our strand of live performance — the plays, the premieres and the one-off nights that happen on the Circle & Star stage.
A brand-new character study. A whole month of the Camden Fringe. A modern-gothic October. Our first conjuror. A fortnight-long run of a new play, and a Christmas one-man show. STAGES gathers the performed work in one place — and in a room of fifty-five, there is no separation and no safety net. The work happens right in front of you.
Summer — Winter 2026 · Hampstead
The season
Everything still to come on this stage — new plays and premieres, solo shows, a fortnight of the gothic, our first conjuror and a two-week run. One calendar, one room of fifty-five.
September
The Viagra Monologues
A midlife musicalTwo nights · 7:30pm
Four old school friends, one stag weekend in Las Vegas and a shared box of Gaviscon. A brand-new musical from the writers of Menopause The Musical 2, directed by Mark Bell (The Play That Goes Wrong) — scripts in hand, heard out loud for the first time.
October
The Marilyn Monroe Story
JoJo DesmondTwo nights · 8:00pm
A hundred years since she was born, and two nights to look again. Thirteen songs from Marilyn’s films sung live, with costume, dance and projection — and underneath all of it, the questions that never settled.
£23.50Book →
Lee Mack
One night at Circle & StarOne night · 8:00pm
Seen by millions. Here for fifty-five. A benefit night made for this little Hampstead theatre — with Steve Furst and a special musical guest. One night only.
My Life With Kenneth Williams
David BensonOne performance · 2:00pm
Part memoir, part séance, part wickedly funny character study — David Benson’s legendary portrait of Kenneth Williams, re-crafted for the centenary of his birth. One afternoon only. “I thought it was Kenneth!” — Dame Maggie Smith.
£25Book →
Just be a good person, actually
Julia PagettTwo nights · 8pm
A modern-gothic new play in the DARK MATTERS fortnight — drawn from the literature and music that live in the shadow of the imagination. Narrated, sung and staged in a room of fifty-five.
Frankenstein — Unchained
Madeline Smith narratesTwo nights · 8pm
Mary Shelley’s monster, narrated live by Madeline Smith over an original score from Jason Frederick. The myth unbound — part of the DARK MATTERS season.
Boobinhand & The Jaywick Horror
Ashleigh Cheadle · Chris FungTwo nights
Two new works in one evening — a single puppet home alone with her thoughts, and a gothic tale of ambition and the price of wanting more. One company, two pieces, inside the DARK MATTERS fortnight.
November
Jermay — In Search of Magic
Luke JermayThree nights · 7:30pm
Our first conjuror. Classical sleight of hand, staged as a private soirée at the top of a Victorian staircase on Heath Street. No trapdoors, no smoke, no camera — two hands, a few simple objects, and a yard between you.
£30Book →
WITS END
A comedy about death · Estée StimlerFifteen performances
Marvin Becker has died, and his three children have one afternoon to bury him. The rabbi never met the deceased, the eulogy has the wrong name in it, and the grave is the wrong size. An original play by Estée Stimler in its first run, directed by Steve Furst.
December
Fagin — Hero or Villain?
Steve FurstThree performances · Sunday matinee
Back by popular demand. Steve Furst is Fagin — the immersive character study that premiered on this stage in July, and an Offies Assessors’ Choice. Three performances, one of them a Sunday matinee.
A Christmas Carol
Mitch BennSix performances
Dickens performed it himself — standing, reading aloud, becoming every voice. Mitch Benn keeps the tradition in his acclaimed one-man production; each performance supports a local homeless charity.
The season so far
Already played
The work this stage has already held. Each of these happened once, in a room of fifty-five — and then it was gone.
July
Fagin — Hero or Villain?
Steve FurstThree nights · 7:30pm
Steve Furst is Fagin — a brand-new immersive character study, premiered on this stage. Fifteen five-star reviews for his Oliver!; this, something entirely his own.
PlayedEvent page →
August
Train to Cleveland
Dan Callaway Studio8:00pm · £17
A burnt-out scholar shares a 1997 carriage with the ghost of the Victorian critic John Ruskin. What begins as an argument about Turner becomes a reckoning — with illness, with love, and with a lifetime spent earning his own worth.
Played
Girls’ Night Out
Hannah Clancy-Hughes7:30pm · £12
A long-overdue reunion at a too-trendy Dublin restaurant. Old friends, older scores, and a night that goes exactly as wrong as these things do — a chaotic, painfully honest Irish comedy.
Played
If I Sing Loud Enough
Daisy Bevan & Lorien HaynesOne night · 7:30pm
Two women, one impossible year. Lorien Haynes’ very British comedy about grief — adapted from her play Good Grief — performed live on stage by Daisy Bevan and Lorien Haynes, directed by Saffron Burrows. One night only.
PlayedEvent page →
How Do I Love Thee?
Aside Hustle7:30pm · £20
Everyone knows the line; almost no one knows the woman who wrote it. Against a controlling father and a literary world run by men, Elizabeth Barrett Browning refused to be defined by anything but her own words.
Played
Mother Tongue
Unique Community7:00pm · £20
A traveller’s mother tongue is fading in a land where it cannot be understood. Two languages fight for room in one mind — an oral history of migration, told through visual theatre and live opera.
Played
September
2.36
Marigold ProductionsThree nights · 7:30pm
2.36 is the average family size — and families never add up cleanly. A razor-sharp two-hander on inheritance, identity and the lies families inherit. Patrons: Richard Bean & Anna Ziegler.
PlayedEvent page →
SINATRA: One Last Shot
Richard SheltonOne night only · 7:30pm
Sold out in Edinburgh, Gold Award winner, three five-star reviews — and now a triumphant return to Hampstead. New Year’s Eve, Palm Springs, 1979: the midnight Sinatra you dream of meeting, told through music and song with live piano. One night, fifty-five seats.
PlayedEvent page →
JEWVENILE
Mark MaierOne night · 7:30pm
Thirty years on the international circuit, one smoked fish, and a high-octane hour through family, faith and the universal need to belong. Observational stand-up on one side, storytelling on the other — fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe.
Played
The room
Circle & Star Theatre
28 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 6TE. Hampstead station, Northern line — thirty seconds from the door. Fifty-five seats. Every one close.
A theatre, not a room above a pub. Your own private entrance, West End-quality sound and lighting, and private, secure bathrooms.
A working theatre. No photography or filming, please — and phones on silent once the lights go down.
Thirty seconds from Hampstead Tube. Northern line, straight to the door.
Fully air-conditioned. Comfortable and easy, whatever the night does outside.