Franz & Marie Tickets at the Charing Cross Theatre

What Tickets Cost

Tickets start from around £25 and go up to around £80 for the best seats. Prices are the same on every date. All-in pricing, the price you see is what you pay. Booking for a group? Call us on 020 7193 9050.

Performance Schedule

There is no Monday performance. In the week of 2 November there is no show on Tuesday 3 November, and on Sunday 8 November there is an extra performance at 7:30pm. The last performance is Saturday 14 November at 7:30pm.

An evening show finishes at about 9:50pm, the Wednesday matinee at about 4:50pm and the weekend matinees at about 5:20pm.

Book your date

Book Your Franz & Marie Tickets

A five-week run, with tickets from around £25. All-in pricing, the price you see is what you pay.

Book tickets • Call us on 020 7193 9050

Best Seats for Franz & Marie

This is a small theatre, so nobody is far from the stage. The Stalls are where most of the seats are, and they rise gently from row C, so the centre from there back gives a clear view over the heads in front. Row K, on the centre aisle, has the most legroom in the house.

Balcony One is the level you can reach without stairs. The Stalls are down a flight of steps from the entrance.

Where to Sit

For Franz & Marie, aim for the centre Stalls from about row D back. The whole company stays on stage for most of the show, at times behind see-through curtains, and a little height on the rake helps you take it all in. More in our Charing Cross Theatre guide.

What Is Franz & Marie?

A new British musical made from Georg Büchner's Woyzeck, the unfinished German play about a poor soldier pushed past breaking point. The songs are by Chris Broderick and Rob Shepherd of The Singing Loins, a folk band from Kent, and the whole cast play the instruments as well as acting and singing: accordion, tin whistle, violin and, later on, an electric guitar.

It was first made for Acom, a Korean theatre company, and staged in Seoul in 2014. This is a new version of it, adapted by Teresa Howard and directed by Michael Oakley.

What's It About?

Franz Woyzeck is a soldier stationed with his platoon at an outpost, waiting for orders after a spell on the front line. He has nightmares and sees fire in the sky. He lives for Marie and their baby, Georgie, and because leave was banned during the war, the two of them have never been able to marry.

To earn a bit more for them, Franz signs up for the army doctor's medical experiments, which means living on nothing but peas. His mind starts to go. Meanwhile the drum major, Varg, goes after Marie, and she has to fight him off. The rumours that follow are what tip Franz over the edge.

It is a dark story with a sharp sense of humour running through it, from the doctor and his students to a song about buying a knife.

Who's It For?

If you like your musicals dark and folky, with live instruments on stage all night, this is for you. WhatsOnStage compared it to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the actor-musician show that played in the West End, so if you saw that, you'll know the style.

Not one for younger children. The guidance is 12 and over, and the story goes to some bleak places.

Franz & Marie Reviews

The Stage gave it four stars and called it a "Mash-up of humour, horror and primitive political satire". The Guardian gave three, and Chris Wiegand liked the "stirring folk songs that are elemental, pungent and often sweetly enchanting". WhatsOnStage also gave three, saying "The 14-strong actor-musician ensemble are wildly talented."

The cast and the music were the most praised parts. Where the critics held back was on the comedy and the length of the second half.

News

Franz & Marie began previews at the Charing Cross Theatre on 28 September 2026 and opened on 5 October. It plays until Saturday 14 November.

Cast

Antony Lam, Anna-Marie Piazza, Emily Panes and Tom Aubrey complete the company of 14, and Tom Aubrey is making his professional stage debut.

Creative Team

Directed by Michael Oakley and adapted by Teresa Howard. Book and lyrics by Chris Broderick, music by Rob Shepherd and Chris Broderick, with arrangements, orchestrations and additional music by Steven Edis. Choreography by Ben Wright, design by Bretta Gerecke, lighting by Christopher Nairne, and sound by Andrew Johnson and Oscar Cotran. Fight choreography by Ronin Traynor.

Getting to the Charing Cross Theatre

The theatre is in The Arches, on Villiers Street, WC2N 6NL, under Charing Cross station. Look for the large brown double doors opposite Heaven nightclub, about halfway down the street.

Embankment (Northern, Bakerloo, Circle and District lines) is at the bottom of Villiers Street and Charing Cross (Northern and Bakerloo lines, plus mainline trains) is at the top, both about five minutes' walk. Buses 9, 15, 23, 26, 87, 91, 139 and 176 stop on the Strand outside Charing Cross station, and the 12, 24, 29, 88, 159 and 453 stop at Trafalgar Square.

There's no cloakroom, so bring only what you can keep with you. The bar opens two hours before the show, and the auditorium about 20 minutes before.

Accessible Performances

This run has no captioned, BSL, audio-described or relaxed dates. If you need an accessible seat, the theatre's own Box Office looks after that rather than us. More in our Charing Cross Theatre guide.

Franz & Marie FAQs