Ghosts, witches, a god of death and one very persistent poltergeist. These are the London shows to see over Halloween 2026, from a 10.30pm horror late show on the night itself to a gothic classic that has haunted the same theatre for 40 years.
Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. That means a full day of performances across London on 31 October, and more of them than you might expect have a ghost, a witch or a death god in the cast. Here is what is running through the end of the month, sorted by how frightened you want to be.
For a proper scare
Paranormal Activity, Ambassadors Theatre. The obvious first choice, and it has added a performance for the night itself: on Saturday 31 October a 10.30pm late show follows the 2.30pm and 7pm performances. The plot is new rather than a version of any one film. James and Lou leave Chicago for London to get away from their past, and their past comes too. Felix Barrett of Punchdrunk directs Levi Holloway's script, and the run has been extended to Saturday 27 February 2027.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre. The stage prequel goes back to Hawkins decades before the Netflix series and asks where its darkness started. Booking until Wednesday 23 December 2026.
Death Note The Musical, Barbican Theatre. A student picks up a notebook dropped by Ryuk, a god of death, and learns that any name written in it means a death. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between the student, Light Yagami, and a detective known only as L.
Dogstar, Hampstead Theatre. The newcomer of Halloween week opens in Hampstead Downstairs on Friday 30 October. Daisy Hall's play strands a whaling crew in the polar ice, and the survivors begin to see the same visions. Scurvy, the endless night or something else? The play does not say. Lucy Morrison directs, the theatre's age guidance is 14+, and it runs until Saturday 5 December 2026. Our Dogstar guide has the full company.
Gothic and candlelit
Phantom of the Opera, His Majesty's Theatre. The masked man beneath the Paris Opera House has haunted this address since 9 October 1986, and the 40th birthday was marked with a gala this month. The anniversary company, led by Jordan Donica as the Phantom and Beatrice Penny-Touré as Christine Daaé, plays together until Saturday 21 November 2026.
Jane Eyre, Southwark Playhouse Elephant. A last chance, and a short one. John Caird and Paul Gordon's musical of Charlotte Brontë's novel finishes on Saturday 24 October, a week before Halloween. A locked attic, a fire and a house that will not give up its secrets: few stories did gothic first or better.
Hamlet Hail to the Thief, Barbican Theatre. Its London premiere begins on Halloween itself, Saturday 31 October. Thom Yorke has taken apart Radiohead's album Hail to the Thief and rebuilt it around Shakespeare, and the play's most famous ghost is very much in it: Paul Hilton doubles Claudius and the Ghost. Radiohead are not on stage; the cast and a ten-piece band play the album live. Until Saturday 23 January 2027.
Witches and ghosts, with laughs
Beetlejuice The Musical, Prince Edward Theatre. A recently dead couple, a goth teenager called Lydia and a poltergeist who will not take no for an answer. The musical of Tim Burton's 1988 film is about as Halloween as the West End gets, and it is booking until Saturday 2 January 2027.
Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre. Two witches, one friendship, and the story of how one of them got her bad name. The musical turned 20 in London on 27 September.
Into the Woods, Noël Coward Theatre. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's fairy-tale musical has a witch at its centre, played here by Kate Fleetwood, and a second act that turns much darker than the first. Jordan Fein's production is booking until Saturday 9 January 2027.
Something darker
Angel's Bone, London Coliseum. English National Opera's run of Du Yun's Pulitzer-winning opera ends on Saturday 31 October. A couple find two wounded angels in their garden and, rather than heal them, put them to work. It is a fable about trafficking rather than a ghost story, set to a score that moves from medieval polyphony to punk. See the production photos.
The Mousetrap, St Martin's Theatre. Prefer a murder to a monster? Agatha Christie's whodunnit has been keeping its secret in the West End since 1952.
For younger ghost-hunters
My Neighbour Totoro, Gillian Lynne Theatre. Gentle rather than scary: two sisters, a new house in the countryside and the forest spirits next door, brought to life with puppetry. It closes on Sunday 3 January 2027, so the final weeks are already under way.
Halloween night in east London
Cheryl Prince's witch-trial play AWAKEN runs at Playhouse East for two performances, on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, both at 6pm. Its heroine is a palliative care nurse who is also a medium, and her memories pull her back to the witch persecutions of 1653.
Looking past Halloween
The gothic season does not stop on 1 November. BIG Live's ballet Dracula returns for 14 performances at the Adelphi Theatre from Saturday 16 January to Sunday 31 January 2027, and Nevermore, a musical play about the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe, comes to Charing Cross Theatre in summer 2027. For everything else starting soon, see what's opening in the West End.
