London theatre: best plays, March 2022
From new work by David Hare to a revival of an Olivier-winner by Mike Bartlett and the return of Punchdrunk, the London stage glitters with potential this March
The Human Voice, Harold Pinter Theatre
Six years after Ruth Wilson and Ivo van Hove collaborated on the latter’s critically acclaimed, thoroughly modern revival of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler – a production which marked the Belgian director’s National Theatre debut and saw Wilson earn a Best Actress Olivier nomination for her performance in the leading role – the two are professionally reunited. Van Hove adapts and directs an adaptation of French writer Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice, which is running for just 31 performances at the West End's Harold Pinter Theatre this month.
Read more ...Cock, Ambassadors Theatre
Despite receiving a string of tepid reviews, Cock by Mike Bartlett (Albion, Snowflake and BBC’s Doctor Foster) won an Olivier award in 2010 after premiering at the Royal Court Theatre the previous year. A decade on and the four-hander about a gay man who feels conflicted after falling for and subsequently beginning a relationship with a woman gets its West End debut this spring at the Ambassadors Theatre.
Read more ...Straight Line Crazy, Bridge Theatre
The trio last collaborated on Beat the Devil, playwright David Hare’s gut-wrenching, autobiographical one-man-show charting his experience of surviving Covid-19. Now the writer, director Nicholas Hytner and actor Ralph Fiennes return to the Bridge Theatre to present the world premiere of Hare’s latest play, Straight Line Crazy, about New York ‘master builder’ Robert Moses.
Read more ...To Kill A Mockingbird, Gielgud Theatre
Rafe Spall (Black Mirror, Death of England) steps into the balanced boots of Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin's smash-hit stage adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, which opens in the West End this month after impressing on Broadway.
Read more ...The Burnt City, Woolwich Works
Punchdrunk, the pioneering producer of large-scale immersive, promenade theatre spectacles, returns with its first major London show since 2013/14’s The Drowned Man. At the company’s new headquarters Woolwich Works, a brand-new arts complex in the Royal Arsenal, audiences can immerse themselves in The Burnt City, a walk-through experience depicting the fall of Troy, set in a future parallel world.
Read more ...Henry V, Donmar Warehouse
He became a household name playing Jon Snow in long-running HBO series Game of Thrones, now Kit Harington takes on Henry V’s mission to seize the French throne in the Donmar Warehouse’s modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s famous history play.
Read more ...Our Generation, National Theatre
London Road playwright Alecky Blythe returns with another verbatim play, this one an epic coming-of-age tale constructed from five years of interviews with 12 young people from across the UK, following their journey into adulthood. Helming the production is Chichester Festival Theatre's artistic director Daniel Evans. Due to open in February, press night was postponed because of the pandemic.
Read more ...Daddy, Almeida Theatre
Celebrated US playwright Jeremy O Harris (Slave Play) makes his UK debut with Daddy, about the toxic relationship between a young black artist and an older white art collector. Postponed from 2020 because of you-know-what, Daddy finally opens at the Almeida this month, with director Danya Taymor and designer Matt Saunders both imported from the original New York production.
The 47th, Old Vic Theatre
The same month his Olivier-winning play Cock gets its West End debut, Mike Bartlett's latest play, The 47th, gets its world premiere on the Old Vic stage, directed by the Almeida's Rupert Goold. Set in 2024, the play imagines America's next presidential race, with Bertie Carvel playing Donald Trump, Tamara Tunie as Kamala Harris and Lydia Wilson as Ivanka Trump.
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