Bill Bailey takes Vaudevillean, his show about the old variety stage, into the West End for a winter season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Bill Bailey, the comedian and multi-instrumentalist from Black Books, opens a West End season of Vaudevillean at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in St James’s on Wednesday 16 December 2026. The run ends on Saturday 6 February 2027.
Raised in Keynsham, between Bath and Bristol, he trained as a classical musician and took an associate diploma from the London College of Music. He left an English degree at Westfield College after one year.
His one-man show Bill Bailey’s Cosmic Jam played the Edinburgh Fringe in 1995. A performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1997, and he won Best Live Stand-Up at the British Comedy Awards in 1999.
The new show takes the variety bill as its model, with comedy, songs and stage skills from the era before radio and cinema. Phil McIntyre Live presents the season, which follows his arena tour of Britain and Ireland.
John Nash designed the present theatre, which opened on 4 July 1821 with Sheridan’s The Rivals. The first playhouse on the site opened in 1720.