What happens in The Tiger Who Came to Tea?
Sophie and her Mummy are having tea in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. It is not the milkman, and not the grocer's boy, and not Daddy — it is a large, furry, stripy tiger, and he is very hungry. He is invited in.
The tiger has tea
He eats every sandwich on the plate, all the buns, all the biscuits and all the cake. He drinks all the milk in the milk jug and all the tea in the teapot. Then he looks round the kitchen and eats all the supper that was cooking in the saucepans, all the food in the fridge and all the packets and tins in the cupboard. He drinks all the water in the tap. Then he says thank you and goes.
What Daddy says
When Daddy comes home there is nothing to eat and nothing to drink, and Sophie can't even have her bath. So the whole family puts on their coats and walks through the dark street to a café, where Sophie has sausages and chips and ice cream. The next day they buy a very big tin of tiger food, just in case — but the tiger never comes to tea again.
On stage
David Wood's version stretches the book to 55 minutes with songs, audience participation and a magic sequence in which the tiger's tea vanishes before the audience's eyes. It plays without an interval and is pitched at children aged three and above, with plenty of space for the grown-ups who read the book themselves.
Background: Judith Kerr, David Wood and the Haymarket summers
Judith Kerr
Judith Kerr (1923–2019) arrived in Britain in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany, an experience she later told in When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. The Tiger Who Came to Tea, her first picture book, was published in 1968 and has never been out of print. She followed it with the Mog series and continued writing and illustrating into her nineties.
David Wood and the stage version
David Wood OBE, often described as the country's leading children's playwright, adapted the book with Kerr's blessing and directed the premiere production, which opened in the West End in 2008 and was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 2012. Susie Caulcutt's design, Peter Pontzen's musical arrangements and Scott Penrose's magic have been constants across its twelve London seasons.
The Haymarket summers
Since 2021 the production has played the Theatre Royal Haymarket every summer, in the daytime slot the theatre's evening show leaves free. The 2026 season, produced by Nicoll Entertainment, ran 22 June to 5 September and shared the building with Trainspotting The Musical in the evenings. The production also tours the UK and has played internationally, including the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Arts Centre.
What comes next
No 2027 London dates or autumn 2026 tour dates had been announced at the time of writing; the producer's site, tigerstealive.com, carries new dates first. The Theatre Royal Haymarket's next production is the world premiere of James Graham's The Standard of Living, from 29 September to 12 December 2026.
