This hit 2014 film starring Bill Nighy and Andrew Scott is heading to London's National Theatre in a new musical adaptation
Feel good summer
There are very few British films from the last decade that people seem to collectively agree are just properly lovely. Pride is one of them.
Now the BAFTA-winning film about queer activists supporting striking Welsh miners in the 1980s is heading to the stage as a full musical adaptation, with its world premiere landing at the National Theatre this summer.
Crucially, the original team are back involved too.
Director Matthew Warchus and writer Stephen Beresford, who helped turn the real-life story of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign into one of Britain’s most beloved modern films, have reunited over a decade later to adapt it for the stage. The production will run inside the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre from the 11th of June until the 12th of September 2026, following a sold-out preview run in Cardiff earlier this year.
If you somehow missed the original film back in 2014, Pride told the true story of a group of London-based LGBTQ+ activists who raised money for Welsh mining communities during the 1984 miners’ strike, forming an unlikely alliance that eventually became one of the defining solidarity stories of Thatcher-era Britain.
The original film became a huge critical success thanks to its balance of humour, politics and genuine warmth, helped massively by a cast that included Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton. It also arrived at a moment where British audiences seemed especially hungry for stories about community, solidarity and collective resistance that didn’t feel completely miserable by the end.
The stage version looks set to lean heavily into that same emotional mix, just with considerably more singing.
The production stars Jhon Lumsden and Samuel Barnett as members of the activist group alongside Matthew Woodyatt as Welsh miner Dai Donovan. The musical features an original score blending protest songs, disco, rock, pop and traditional Welsh choral influences, created by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde. Which honestly sounds exactly right for a story set in the middle of 1980s Britain.
One of the more touching details around the production is that the cast and creative team recently visited the former miners’ welfare hall in the Upper Swansea Valley, meeting members of the real community who inspired both the film and the musical itself. Beresford described hearing their memories of “the day the gays invaded” as one of the highlights of the whole process.
Tonally, it feels like the show knows exactly what audiences want from Pride. Big emotion. Big music. Big political heart. The National Theatre itself has described the production as “funny, fierce and filled with joy”, which is pretty much the exact formula that made the original film work so well in the first place.
In 2026, a musical about solidarity, protest and unlikely communities finding common ground again suddenly feels extremely well timed. You can book tickets now.
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