Sting will headline a newly adapted production of his musical The Last Ship at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London from September 22 to October 3, in a staging produced by Karl Sydow and featuring a new book by Barney Norris. The West End engagement is part of an international run that has already visited Amsterdam, Brisbane and Paris, and follows performances scheduled at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in June, with a return to Amsterdam in the autumn.
Directed by Leo Warner, the production includes set and video design by 59 – A Journey Studio and combines brand new songs with material from Sting’s catalog. The show centers on Jackie White, a shipyard foreman whose health is failing just as his community needs him most. Set in Wallsend, the shipbuilding town in northeast England, the production features a cast of more than 50 performers.
Sting said the story is deeply personal, rooted in his childhood near the shipyard. He said he grew up watching thousands of men walk to work each morning, dreamed of escaping, and later felt compelled to return to his roots through the show. He described The Last Ship as a tribute to the people and place that shaped him.
Originally developed in 2011 from Sting’s 1991 album The Soul Cages, the musical premiered on Broadway in 2014, where it received Tony nominations for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations. The 2026 version has been expanded with additional scenes and newly written material. Songs in the production include “Island of Souls,” “All This Time,” and “When We Dance.”
Norris’s new book is based on a version by Lorne Campbell, which itself drew from the original book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey. The creative team also includes set and props designer Jenny Melville, costume designer Loren Elstein, lighting designer Adam Bassett, sound designer Tom Gibbons, choreographer Rebecca Howell, animation director Matt Taylor, video designer Benjamin Pearcy, musical supervisor and orchestrator Rob Mathes, and musical director and co-orchestrator Richard John.
To coincide with the production, Sting has also released The Last Ship (Expanded Edition), an extended album featuring five new recordings produced by Sting and Mathes. Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where the production will play, is owned and operated by LW Theatres, the portfolio company wholly owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
