Fourteen Again: Victoria Wood’s Songs Head to London

# Fourteen Again: Victoria Wood’s Songs Head to London

here is something rather lovely about Victoria Wood’s work continuing to find new life on stages around the country, and this autumn one of her old theatrical homes will be sending something rather new into London.

Fourteen Again, a new musical built around the songs and lyrics of Victoria Wood, is transferring to the Menier Chocolate Factory following its premiere earlier this year at the Victoria Wood Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere.

That theatre will be familiar territory to anyone who knows Victoria’s history. Formerly the Old Laundry Theatre, it was renamed the Victoria Wood Theatre in 2026, ten years after her death, by her close friends and collaborators Charlotte Scott and Roger Glossop. Victoria herself had a long association with the venue: she opened the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction in the same building, served as a trustee, performed there several times, directed Talent there and saw her television film Housewife 49 adapted for the stage there.

It seems rather fitting, then, that Fourteen Again should have begun its life there.

The musical, commissioned by Charlotte and Roger, features Victoria’s music and lyrics with a book and additional lyrics by Tom MacRae, whose previous work includes Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The story follows Peggy, recently divorced and reunited with her childhood best friend Lou at a local slimming club. Then, rather inconveniently, Peggy wakes up fourteen again and is forced to confront some of the choices and mistakes of her younger self.

Returning from the Bowness production are Ria Jones as Lou and Sally Ann Triplett as Peggy. Both have their own Victoria Wood connections. Triplett created Miss Berta in the original West End production of Acorn Antiques: The Musical!, while Jones played Mrs Overall in the first national tour of Acorn Antiques, directed by Victoria herself.

The London production is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, with a creative team including Nigel Lilley, Sammy Murray and Roger Glossop.

And so, from the shores of Windermere to Southwark, Victoria’s songs are getting another airing and I for one am rather intrigued to hear what a whole new musical made from that extraordinary songbook sounds like.

Fourteen Again previews at the Menier Chocolate Factory from Saturday 21 November, opens on Wednesday 2 December, and runs until Saturday 27 February 2027.

And if you’re in the mood for a little more Victoria Wood, why not take a look at my brand new show, playing The Victoria Wood Theatre and many other locations across the UK in 2026-27, What Wood Victoria Do? A fresh celebration of Victoria Wood’s wit, wisdom and music, it asks how on earth we’ve managed the last decade without her – and what she’d make of the world we live in today.