The phrase \u201ccruise ship entertainment\u201d conjures vivid images, even to those who have never set foot on an oceangoing vessel. Starry backcloths, sequined frocks, tunes and croons from yesteryear, the lite-ent values of the 1970s preserved in aspic. Perhaps those stereotypes held water way back when the singer Jane McDonald ruled the reality TV waves. But \u2013 lazy thinking ahoy! \u2013 do they still?<\/p>\n
Look at the shows currently a-sail on the high seas, from the Olivier award-winning 9\/11 musical Come from Away, to hip theatre-maker Emma Rice\u2019s acclaimed Brief Encounter. And look at the onboard production values, which \u201cway surpass what you see in London theatres\u201d, says Susannah Daley of Peel Entertainment, which provides shows for the Ambassador cruise line. \u201cThese ships are now being built with theatre in mind, to a really high spec, to hold between 600 and 1,000 people. What can be produced in them is pretty phenomenal.\u201d Producer David Pugh, a veteran of the West End who has collaborated with Cunard cruises, says: \u201cThese are probably the most technical theatres, in terms of lighting and sound, that you\u2019ve ever seen outside of the best theatres in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
A scene from Venison by Huw Turnbull, the winner of the 2025 Ambassador Peel Playwriting Challenge, which debuted on MS Ambition in May. Photograph: Ambassador Cruise Line<\/p>\n
Brief Encounter is Pugh\u2019s. He has also recently delivered the RSC\u2019s production of The Constant Wife onboard Cunard cruises. Meanwhile, Cunard is now well established as the \u201cheadline partner\u201d of theatre\u2019s most prestigious gong show, the Olivier awards \u2013 while Peel has just run a competition (which received 260 applications) for new plays to be performed at sea.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all a far cry from the days when cruise ships ranked alongside Butlin\u2019s for arts industry prestige. \u201cIt\u2019s really shifted,\u201d says Cat Robey, Cunard\u2019s senior entertainment development manager (and a former deputy director of London\u2019s Jermyn Street theatre). \u201cNo one says \u2018No\u2019 any more. It\u2019s now much more, \u2018I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s brilliant and I\u2019d love to do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Decks appeal \u2026 entertainment onboard MS Astor passing the Panama Canal in January 2006. Photograph: Ullstein Bild\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
When Peel took to the sea 26 years ago, says Daley, \u201cpeople tended to think of cruises as girls with feathers and some crooner. But we were told, \u2018No, we want to get away from that whole cheesy reputation.\u2019\u201d Back then, cruises laid on a handful of performances per week. Now there are multiple shows daily. These include shows in repertory by resident companies, and others by visiting outfits moonlighting at sea. All artforms are welcome: Cunard currently offers immersive theatre, for example, from the company behind wraparound performance experiences Peaky Blinders: The Rise and Doctor Who: Time Fracture.<\/p>\n
That, says Daley, is because the mainstream theatre industry has woken up to what can be achieved on cruise ships. On the one hand, it\u2019s about meeting new audiences \u2013 \u201cPeople are seeing theatre on a cruise who may never have been to the theatre before\u201d \u2013 and in large numbers. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a guaranteed audience,\u201d says Daley, \u201cand where on earth would you get that? We can get 600 people coming to a play in the afternoon. In the evening, we may get 1,200 people over two sittings. This is a fabulous opportunity for your work to be seen.\u201d It\u2019s a great chance for artists to flex their performing muscles, too. \u201cCruise offers, especially to younger performers, massive variety. Because you have to sing rock one day, opera another day and act in a play the next. You\u2019re stretching yourself all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kara Tointon in a promotional shot for the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s production of The Constant Wife, which was staged on Cunard cruises. Photograph: Courtesy of Cunard<\/p>\n
It\u2019s increasingly the case, says Robey at Cunard, that customers are booking cruises based not solely on their sunkissed itineraries, but on the theatre onboard. \u201cWe absolutely know from guest feedback and booking trends that performances draw bookings,\u201d she says, citing themed event voyages that include \u201cLondon Theatre<\/a> at Sea\u201d (Southampton to New York, May 2026), not to mention Virgin Voyages\u2019 seven-night comedy cruise (tagline: \u201cLaugh your aft off!\u201d).<\/p>\n double quotation markFurniture goes one way, the actors go the other, and there\u2019s blood<\/p>\n Peel\u2019s and Ambassador\u2019s recent playwriting prize, meanwhile, reflected a hunger among passengers for new bespoke drama onboard. \u201cYou try and get into a lounge to watch them sometimes and it\u2019s absolutely packed,\u201d says Daley. The prize winner, a thriller titled Venison by Edinburgh-based Huw Turnbull, is being staged on the waves this summer. \u201cWe hope the competition will make people aware,\u201d says Daley, \u201cof a growing opportunity at sea for writers, directors and all sorts of creative talents.\u201d<\/p>\n There are, of course, downsides. \u201cA ship doesn\u2019t wait for anybody,\u201d says Daley. \u201cWhenever we\u2019re sending out scenery, costumes and lighting, it has to arrive on time at whatever port we\u2019ve agreed. We\u2019ve got some freight which at the moment is floating around Spain because it\u2019s not allowed to dock there.\u201d<\/p>\n A scene from the Olivier award-winning Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) on board the Cunard vessel Queen Anne. Photograph: Christopher Ison<\/p>\n There are other logistical quirks. Rehearsals must take place at antisocial hours, because the theatre is in fairly constant use. Shows require ruthless editing to fit allotted running times. And the motion of the ocean isn\u2019t always a performer\u2019s friend. Pugh remembers rehearsing the acclaimed Regency comedy Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of), \u201con the Bay of Biscay, gale force seven. Furniture goes one way, the actors go the other, this girl gets hit on the head, and there\u2019s blood.\u201d Cue a medical lockdown and a long delay to the opening of the show.<\/p>\n double quotation markI went in armoured with what I thought was this patronisingly accessible act<\/p>\n