The Last Ship at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Sting performed in his own musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane from Tuesday 22 September to Saturday 3 October 2026, sixteen performances over twelve days.
At Theatre Royal Drury Lane, near Covent Garden
This show has closed
This run at Theatre Royal Drury Lane has finished.
Who Was The Last Ship For?
- Anyone who wanted to see Sting act, not just sing. Jackie White is a lead role with a story to carry, and he was announced for all sixteen performances.
- Anyone who wanted a big night in a big theatre. Drury Lane seats nearly 2,000 and this production was built to fill it.
- Less good for: anyone who wanted a night of Sting hits, and anyone looking for a cheerful evening.
About The Last Ship at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
It was not a revival but the production that had just been round the world. Barney Norris wrote a new book for it, Leo Warner directed, and the set and video were by 59 Studio. It was on the road for most of 2026, with nine performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in June.
Drury Lane was the last stop, and there were no other UK dates.
What Is The Last Ship About?
Wallsend, on the Tyne, and the shipyard that is about to close.
Sting grew up in its shadow. The story follows a community of shipbuilders as the yard that has defined every family in the town is taken away from them, and what they decide to do about it.
Every song in it was written by Sting for this story. Island of Souls, All This Time and When We Dance are among them.
Performance Schedule
The run had no weekly pattern: sixteen performances between Tuesday 22 September and Saturday 3 October 2026, with evenings at 7:30pm, five 2:30pm matinees and no performance on Sunday 27 September. It ran 2 hours 50 minutes including one interval.
Cast and Creative Team
Sting played Jackie White, and the Wallsend Ferryman was Shaggy on the first two nights and Lejaun Sheppard for the rest of the run.
Declan Bennett, Frances McNamee and Jackie Morrison led the company alongside them. The full company and the creative team are in the Cast and Creatives tab.
Where to See The Last Ship Next
No further dates have been announced after Drury Lane. Sign up and we will tell you first if it comes back.
FAQs
2 hours 50 minutes including one interval.
No. It is a book musical and the score was written for this story, not drawn from his hits.
The box office recommended 12 and over. The subject suits teenagers rather than young children.
None were scheduled for this run.
Where to Sit at Theatre Royal Drury Lane
The staging was built on video and large-scale installation, so this show reversed the usual advice: central seats a little further back, and the front of the Royal Circle, saw the whole stage best. For whatever plays Drury Lane next, our Theatre Royal Drury Lane guide goes level by level.
Seating plan
Dates & tickets
Getting to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine Street, London WC2B 5JF.
By tube. Covent Garden is about 5 minutes on the Piccadilly line. Holborn and Charing Cross are both walkable.
By bus. Routes stopping on the Aldwych, a short walk round: 6, 11, 13, 23, 59, 68, 87, 171, 172, 188 and the RV1. Night buses run from the same stops.
Driving. The Congestion Charge applies. There is parking on Parker Street, about 5 minutes away.
The auditorium. 1,996 seats over four levels: Stalls, Royal Circle, Grand Circle and Balcony. A passenger lift reaches all four, and there is step-free entry from Russell Street. There is more on the building in our Theatre Royal Drury Lane guide.
Address
Catherine Street, London WC2B 5JF
Nearest Tube
Covent Garden
The Last Ship Cast
Sting, as Jackie White
He was announced for all sixteen performances, which was not something he had done in London before. It is a lead role, not a guest turn.
Reviewing the same production at the Metropolitan Opera in June, Roger Friedman wrote of "Sting's distinctive, soaring, butterscotch voice, which has aged like fine Italian wine."
The Wallsend Ferryman
Shaggy played the part on 22 and 23 September.
Lejaun Sheppard played the Ferryman from Thursday 24 September to the end of the run.
The company
Declan Bennett as Gideon, Frances McNamee as Meg, Jackie Morrison as Peggy White, Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong as Baroness Tynesdale, Matt Beveridge as Freddy Newlands, Joe Caffrey as Billy Thompson, Duane Gooden as Adrian, Hannah Richardson as Ellen and Adam Strong as Davey. A company of over fifty in all.
Creative team
Barney Norris (book) · Leo Warner (director) · 59 Studio (set and video design) · songs by Sting.
The Last Ship Reviews
The Last Ship opened at Drury Lane on Tuesday 22 September 2026, and the critics came the next night. Nearly all of them gave it three stars, with two from the Evening Standard. The Times's Dominic Maxwell said "It starts strikingly, ends triumphantly" (3/5), and the Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish called the projected ship "both awesome and oppressive" (3/5). The common complaint was the length and the number of songs: the i's Fiona Mountford thought "there are way too many songs". Frances McNamee's Meg was the performance the critics picked out, and audiences liked the show a good deal more than the press did. The full round-up is in What the Critics Say.
Before London, the New York run in June 2026 was the same show: the same new book, the same director, the same Sting. The older quotes you will see elsewhere come from a 2018 touring production with a different script.
The New York notices were warm. Roger Friedman at Showbiz411 called the staging "a spectacular mix of video and physical installations" that made the stage "brilliantly urgent", and described a ship that seems parked on it for long stretches.
Those were American notices for a nine-night run at an opera house, which is a different test from a West End opening.
