The theme for the V&A Performance Festival 2023 is Musicals – inspired by current free display Re:Imagining Musicals in the Theatre and Performance Galleries. Running between the 22nd – 30th of April, the entire V&A will become a stage for contemporary practitioners to animate galleries and atmospheric spaces around the museum for diverse audiences. The wide range of over 50 events encompassing live performances, screenings, talks, tours, demonstrations, and workshops will celebrate, explore and deconstruct musical theatre, revealing the craft behind songs and stories alike.

Highlights of the festival’s weekend programme include performances by Rifco Theatre Company, HighRise Entertainment and Millennium Performing Arts, a musical drag performance, panel discussions with leading theatre practitioners director Katie Mitchell and actor Mei Mac on sustainability and representation in the theatre, workshops led by the teams of Disney’s Frozen the Musical and the global hit SIX the Musical, an afternoon event dedicated to the work of Stephen Sondheim with masterclass led by Jenna Russell, and installations commissioned especially for UK Festival of Performance Design and Prague Quadrennial.

During the week, there will be special curator tours across the collections, screenings of musicals from the National Video Archive of Performance, an evening talk with star of stage and screen Bonnie Langford, and a special ‘Sounding Futures’ Friday Late celebrating the capacity of songs to sound new worlds.

Events free and drop in unless otherwise stated. Learn more via the online programme.