Composite Image with Reece Shearsmith, Maisie Adams, The Gruffalo's Child, Les Amazones D'Afrique and Sindhu Vee

Check out the great shows coming to Coventry from Autumn 2026

Posted

Wednesday 26 August

There’s monstrous tales, award-winning theatre, electrifying dance and some of the brightest visual art stars set for Warwick Arts Centre’s fantastic Autumn/Winter 2026-2027 Season.

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The Best Of British Art

The UK’s most significant exhibition of contemporary art, British Art Show 10, opens in Coventry on 2 October 2026 (until 10 Jan 2027), with Warwick Arts Centre’s Mead Gallery hosting works by a range of exciting artists including Turner Prize 2025 winner Nnena Kalu, West Midlands-born artist Emma Talbot and painter Matthew Krishanu - with Emma and Matthew, along with artist Nengi Omuku, also taking part in a special Artists In Conversation in the gallery (19 Nov 2026) chaired by BAS10 curator Ekow Eshun.

Nengi Omuku, Dream Logic (2026): Oil on woven sanyan fabric showing shadowy figures in a colorful, impressionistic landscape.

Home time

A thread running throughout the season’s live and film programme, and into early 2027, is Home – a series of events that brings together work exploring the places, people and experiences that shape our lives. Highlights include Ad Infinitum’s autobiographical story of love, loss and resilience Pieces of My Life (22 Oct 2026), written and performed by Kirris Riviere; African Soul Rebels featuring Les Amazones d’Afrique (6 Oct 2026); West Mids icon Fatt Butcher with his joyous Congregational (27-28 Nov 2026); a chance to see Ken Loach’s landmark Cathy Come Home on the big screen (Nov); and a powerful new piece of theatre from award-winning writer Inua Ellams, Once Upon A Time In Sokoto (5-7 Nov 2026).

Elsewhere, a Home ‘conversation’ strand features exclusive curated talks with leading writers and curators including journalist Omar El Akkad in conversation with Gary Younge, poet Nikita Gill talking to Len Pennie, and Stephanie Phillips speaking to Pauline Black, while three contributors to the seminal The Good Immigrant - Nikesh Shukla, Nish Kumar and Salena Godden – mark the anthology’s tenth anniversary.

Fatt Butcher in white make up in a red choir robe behind a lectern

Great shows for all the family

Elsewhere, in our Autumn/Winter programme, there’s plenty to keep families thoroughly entertained, with appearances from poetry legend Michael Rosen (25 Oct 2026) and the charming Nick Cope (8 Nov 2026), plus Dinosaurs Live! (11 Oct 2026) with the Natural History Museum, a brand new family musical from Little Angel Theatre entitled Toto The Ninja Cat and The Great Snake Escape (31 Oct-1 Nov 2026), and the much-loved The Gruffalo’s Child (28 Nov-27 Dec 2026). Warwick Arts Centre’s ongoing Free Family Events programme also continues with Musical Picnics, Family Singing, Family Sundays, Mini Creatives and My First Concert (various dates).

Illustration of The Gruffalo holding The Gruffalo's Child sat in a log in a snowy landsscape

Big names from across comedy, music and more

Other well-known names heading here include writer Caitlin Moran (25 Sep 2026), poet Brian Bilston (1 Oct 2026), astronaut Tim Peake (6 Oct 2026), globetrotter Michael Palin (16 Oct 2026), Inside No.9’s Reece Shearsmith (10 Oct 2026) and TV historians Tracy Borman (4 Oct 2026), Lucy Worsley (11 Oct 2026) and Mary Beard (5 Nov 2026).

There’s plenty to laugh at too, with mirth-filled shows from Alan Davies (25 Sep 2026), Hasan Al-Habib (8 Oct 2026), Maisie Adam (9 Oct 2026), Jazz Emu (14 Oct 2026), Nurse Georgie Carroll (1 Nov 2026), Mike Wozniak (12 Nov 2026) and Romesh Ranganathan (4 Dec 2026).

A varied music line-up boasts jazz hero Courtney Pine (26 Sep 2026), country-pop duo Ward Thomas (24 Sep 2026), former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure (29 Nov 2026) and accomplished guitarist Martin Simpson (3 Dec 2026), while the London Gospel Choir reimagine Paul Simon’s era defining Graceland (11 Dec 2026).

Acclaimed Brazilian guitarist Plinio Fernandes joins Chineke! Orchestra (26 Nov 2026) and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra tackle The Nutcracker (9 Dec 2026) as part of the Orchestral Season, while the WNO orchestra accompany a screening of Hitchcock’s classic Psycho (29 Oct 2026) with a live performance of Bernard Herrmann’s chilling score.

Maisie Adams with her hand under her chin

Cinema highlights

Finally, over in our cinema, alongside Met Opera, Exhibition On Screen and NT Live screenings, there’s everything from the latest blockbusters to curated classics and the best of World Cinema. Forthcoming highlights include a lavish new adaption of Sense And Sensibility, Digger starring Tom Cruise, and the conclusion of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy, as well as regular Cosy Classics and even more accessible, relaxed and captioned screenings.