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UCL! The Musical comes to Bloomsbury Theatre in November, and it's shaping up to be an unforgettable experience. Packed with show-stopping original songs, tap dancing Jeremy Benthams and a very special cast of characters, it's an entirely student-led production, from the script and original score to the final performance.
The musical has been created as part of our year-long UCL200 celebrations--and underneath the witty writing and UCL in-jokes, it carries a deeper message that's especially relevant right now. Harking back to the insitution's radical beginnings, UCL! The Musical reminds us of the importance of going against the grain, accepting people's differences, and fighting for the right to education for all.
Recent alumna and UCL! The Musical Producer Shria Jindal explains the thinking behind the musical's plot:
Capturing history
UCL! The Musical explores the legacy of our storied institution and asks a simple but thought-provoking question: what if everything the university has achieved in the last 200 years was suddenly at risk of being destroyed? Asking this raised an even bigger question for the team creating the musical. How do you possibly begin to capture a university with 200 years of history, 50,000 current students and 18,000 staff? You can't fit all of it on one stage, so we had to decide what really makes UCL, UCL.
We landed on three concepts which run through the whole show:
- First, its extraordinary history, from its beginnings as the 'godless institution of Gower Street' to everything it has contributed to the world since.
- Second, its vast community: the students, staff and alumni who have passed through its doors and all left their mark on UCL.
- And third, the radical idea at its heart: liberal scholarship.
UCL was founded on the belief that anyone could be educated regardless of religion, race or creed, and it went on to become one of the first universities in the country to welcome women on equal terms.
UCL's radical spirit
UCL's bicentenary offers us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the institution's legacy and remember the radical principles upon which it was built--radical principles that seem to be quietly slipping backwards as we move further into the 21st century. There are forces at work in this country and abroad that are increasingly and openly hostile to the idea that anyone should be free to learn what they choose, regardless of race, gender or creed.
That's why we wanted this musical to celebrate the anti-establishment rage that formed UCL, a university open to anyone with the means and the desire to learn. It's easy to take that idea for granted two centuries on, but it was a genuinely rebellious act at the time, and it's worth reminding ourselves that it still needs protecting. That radical spirit is still alive at UCL today, and we think it deserves a proper celebration. And what better way to celebrate it than with a musical, full of songs, laughs and the whole community on stage?
That radical spirit is still alive at UCL today, and we think it deserves a proper celebration.
UCL! The Musical comes to Bloomsbury Theatre from 24-28 November 2026. Get your tickets now!