MTFestUK, The New Musical Festival is back for 2026

The festival runs at The Other Palace from 27th January to 15th February

First introduced in 2019, MTFestUK has championed bold, original musical theatre, with many works reaching full productions in the UK and beyond. This year, enjoy 6 fresh pieces through intimate 1-hour workshop sharings, encouraging you to experience, explore, engage and support musical theatre in its earliest stages of development.

Shining in Misery – A King-size Parody (Tue 27 – Thu 29 Jan)

Music: Andrew Abrams | Book & Lyrics: Mark-Eugene Garcia | Book: Colleen DuVall
Experience a musical parody of King-size proportions! During the Misery of a blizzard, 5 people are drawn to the Shining lights of the Overlook Hotel: The Torrance family, Annie Wilkes, and Paul, the mysterious man she drags to room 217.

Legendary (Fri 30 Jan – Sun 1 Feb)

Book, Music & Lyrics: Cheeyang Ng
Legendary is a ritual-musical where a queer Asian immigrant transforms myth, memory, and identity into a new origin story. Through circle singing, call-and-response, and Chinese mythology, the Narrator searches for belonging and discovers the power to create the legend they were never given..

‘Tristan’ (Tue 3 – Thu 5 Feb)

Written by Matt Jones, Composed by Kele Okereke
Tristan is charming, gorgeous and can sweep you off your feet. He’s also a liar and fantasist. What makes a man like Tristan? Nick and Philly are both in love with him. Unfortunately they know nothing about the existence of the other.

That Witch (Fri 6 – Sun 8 Feb)

Book, Music & Lyrics: Billy Cullum & Robert Tregoning
The Sunny High Drama Club present the world premiere read through slash workshop performance of their original musical That Witch, based on totally unbelievable events that like, actually happened in their home town – SunnyVille, a town where witches are SO not welcome.

The Guild (Tue 10 – Thu 12 Feb)

Based on the original series by Felicia Day
Book: Allison Frasca
Music: Mark Schenfisch
Lyrics: Sam Balzac
Cyd “Codex” Sherman thrives while casting spells online. Real life…not so much. But when one member of her motley guild of gamers breaks digital anonymity, The Guild must unite to battle anxieties, miscommunication, and the biggest boss of all: reality.

Glimmer (Fri 13 – Sun 15 Feb)

Book & Lyrics: Frankie Bunce
Music & Lyrics: Kat Kleve
When Bristol teenager, Billie, falls into the seductive world of a radical online influencer who promises empowerment through acts of revenge, her transformation sets off a dangerous chain of events – with devastating consequences far beyond the screen.