September 2025: Best shows to see in Leeds

At first glance, the programme for September in Theatreland might not look much fuller than August’s. The difference is that, whereas last month the premises were almost totally dark – as we luvvies say, in September there is always something going on. The runs, however, are longer, so the turnover is more limited.

Leeds Playhouse sums this up perfectly. To Kill A Mocking Bird, the stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s seminal novel about racial injustice and childhood innocence, set as a courtroom drama, runs from 6th September until 4th October, thus monopolising Quarry for the month. It is a Playhouse production and, following the stint at its home venue, it embarks on a national tour. Richard Coyle stars as the lawyer Atticus Finch. 

In the Courtyard from 10th to 13th September, we have Consumed, a play set at a 90th birthday party where four generations of Northern Irish women are reunited and skeletons come out of cupboards in numbers rivalling those in the lecture rooms at LGI and Jimmy’s combined.

Meanwhile, they are still selling tickets for Reception, at The Warehouse in Holbeck, a show I previewed last month and which runs until 6th September.

Leeds Grand Theatre welcomes the month with War Horse continuing its run until 6th September, after which they hand the baton to Northern Ballet.

Merlin (main image), a Northern Ballet production, choreographed by Olivier Award winner, Drew McOnie, tells the story of two kingdoms at war, a pair of star-crossed lovers and a boy with a whole lot of magic. Let’s hope he is more Paul Daniels than Tommy Cooper. 

The myth of the legendary wizard is told with the help of spectacular sets and costumes, amazing special effects an a dragon – naturally. For details of this show, and the others in Northern Ballet’s season, which includes a special multi-buy offer, please head to their website.

Let’s hope that Northern Ballet and Opera North have safe hands, as the final leg in the September Grand Theatre Relay is run by the company’s Youth Chorus and Orchestra with a comedy thriller, The Secret of the Black Spider. It is an opera based on a 15th Century myth about a broken promise, with devastating results, both in that period and also a few hundred years later. It plays on 26th and 27th September. Info and tickets here.  

There are a couple of relevant dates for your diary at Leeds City Varieties this month with, on 22nd September, a National Theatre Live Screening of Inter Alia, starring Rosamund Pike. It is written by Suzie Miller and directed by Justin Martin, who were responsible for Prima Facie, which you might have seen here a couple of months ago. 

The following two nights – 23rd and 24th – see Eddie Izzard give a solo performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It’s s done on a bare stage so concentrates on the language and story-telling of the bard.  Last few tickets available. 

The Carriageworks has just the one offering in September, The Great British Bake Off Musical, on 11th to 13th. This show, includes a community cast professionally presented by Patrick Productions. There is no mention of George Clooney and the Soggy Bottom Boys, still, you get lots of humour from this show, rather than constant sorrow. 

That’s it then. Serious drama, opera, ballet, screening and buns. All bases covered.