Chess

Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, Chess is a sweeping musical of love, ambition and political intrigue, featuring music by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, lyrics by Tim Rice, and a book by Tim Rice.

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Chess follows two world-class chess grandmasters from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain as they battle for the world championship. American challenger Freddie Trumper is brilliant, volatile and fiercely independent; his Soviet opponent, Anatoly Sergievsky, is disciplined, calculating and under immense political pressure. But as the competition intensifies, their rivalry becomes entangled with a complicated love triangle involving Florence Vassy, Freddie’s second and Anatoly’s lover.

What begins as a battle across the chessboard quickly becomes something much bigger. Personal loyalties collide with national interests, governments attempt to control their players, and the line between love, power and manipulation becomes increasingly difficult to see. As the championship reaches its climax, every move carries consequences far beyond the game itself.

Featuring an iconic score including I Know Him So Well, Anthem, Someone Else’s Story and One Night in Bangkok, Chess combines the scale of a political thriller with the emotional intensity of a love story. Set at the height of the Cold War, its questions of freedom, loyalty, identity and power remain strikingly relevant today.

Two sides. One game. Everything to lose.

Chess is a story about what happens when the people we love become pieces in a much larger game.

Concession tickets are available to students, under-18s, senior citizens (65+), and those receiving Universal Credit, benefits or other means-tested support. Proof of eligibility may be requested on entry.