Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s Look at London Theatre

May 29 – June 6, 2027

With Sarah Ream

May 29 – June 6, 2027

Starting from

TBA

Attend seven plays in seven days with London theater insider Sarah Ream.

Join Sarah Ream in May 2027 for a London theater tour in which you will attend seven plays in seven days. A former National Theatre staff director who directed and taught theater in London, Sarah will lead morning discussions of the previous night’s performance. Consider the acting choices, direction, and design you saw onstage, then hear how fellow travelers responded. Gain the critical tools to appreciate the art of the stage.

See work selected from London’s current season, with productions ranging from new plays to classic revivals. Past trips have included The Lehman Trilogy before its Tony Award-winning Broadway run and productions featuring acclaimed performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rosamund Pike. “We carefully select our performances to showcase the range and quality that make London’s theater unmatched anywhere else,” says Sarah.

Along the way, meet directors, designers, critics, and performers through private conversations revealing the creative process in ways most theatergoers never experience. Tour the West End with a Blue Badge guide and learn how London developed from a city of open-air Tudor playhouses into one of the world’s theater capitals. You will also explore a West End theater backstage.

Attend matinees on selected afternoons, then use free time to visit London on your own before the next performance. Stay at the five-star Haymarket Hotel on Suffolk Place, next door to Theatre Royal Haymarket and within an easy walk of His Majesty’s Theatre and the Noël Coward Theatre.

Performance selections will be announced after 2027 theater schedules are confirmed in spring.

Highlights

Go behind the scenes on a London theater tour with Sarah Ream, a former National Theatre staff director with years of directing and teaching experience in the British capital.
Attend seven plays in seven days, selected from new works and revivals. Sarah notes, “Past participants in this annual program have been among the first to witness history-making productions like David Hare’s Grace Pervades with Ralph Fiennes, Inter Alia with Rosamund Pike in her Olivier-winning performance, and The Lehman Trilogy directed by Sam Mendes, before it won the Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Direction of a Play on Broadway.”
Discuss each production the following morning with Sarah, focusing on the acting, direction, and design you saw onstage.
Tour a West End theater backstage for a rare inside look.
Meet directors, producers, actors, and other theater professionals during talks, meals, and other group events.
Hear from guest speaker Matt Wolf (pending confirmation), theater critic for the New York Times International Edition.
Attend matinees and group events, then use free time to see more of London on your own.
Stay at the Haymarket Hotel, a five-star, Kit Kemp-designed property next door to Theatre Royal Haymarket and within an easy walk of other West End playhouses.

Lecturer

Sarah Ream

Lecturer

Sarah Ream’s background in drama includes work as a theatre director and teacher for years in the United States and United Kingdom, ranging from her role as Associate Director at San Francisco’s American Conservatory theatre to Staff Director at Britain’s National Theatre. In New York, she worked in casting at the Public Theatre and directed Off-Broadway and with Juilliard’s opera students before founding her own theatre group, the Compass Theatre. She is emerita Chair of the Theatre and Dance department at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where she taught for 24 years. Today, Sarah is delighted to be sharing her passion for drama with this group.