Looking back: the best theatre shows in London, 2023
In what's been a strong year for musical revivals and an even stronger one for advancements in tech on stage, we round up the best theatre shows 2023 provided
10. The Motive and the Cue, Noel Coward Theatre [STAR:4]
A play this meta and self-involved could have warranted a big yawn: The Motive and the Cue takes audiences back in time and behind the scenes of Sir John Gielgud and Richard Burton’s creatively troubled but wildly successful 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet, in which the former directed the latter following a coin-toss with fellow thesps Peter O'Toole and Laurence Olivier (who staged their side of the bargain at London’s Old Vic). But with the power-coupling of writer Jack Thorne and director Sam Mendes helming the project, and with Mark Gatiss and Johnny Flynn resurrecting the familiar mannerisms and fragile egos of its outwardly proud protagonists, it proved riveting from beginning to end.
Read more ...9. A Streetcar Named Desire, Phoenix Theatre [STAR:4]
Rebecca Frecknall (Cabaret) brought fresh verve and contemporary relevance to this Tennessee Williams classic. TV-turned-film-star Paul Mescal (Normal People, After Sun) and stage favourite Patsy Ferran were entrancing as its joint leads.
Read more ...7. Dear England, Prince Edward Theatre [STAR:4]
Football player and manager of the England Men's team Gareth Southgate is the subject of leading contemporary playwright James Graham’s latest play Dear England. It's an interrogation of the toxic pressures placed on the England football team by senior management and the nation at large, with a heartwarming reflection on the seismic shift under way within. Whether you’re a mega fan, a novice or sit somewhere in between, this is a football story we can all get on board with.
Read more ...8. Macbeth, Donmar Warehouse ★★★★★
It’s Macbeth with David Tennant, Cush Jumbo and… headphones. But before you cry ‘gimmick!’ on this new Donmar Warehouse production that has its audience listen to the whole thing through a headset, what director Max Webster pulls off is actually brilliant. In channelling whispered prophecies and the ominous flapping of birds’ wings directly into our ears, the madness that takes over Macbeth is very much ours too, and the story unfolds like an urgent, spiralling psychological thriller.
Read more ...6. Infinite Life, National Theatre ★★★★★
As her previous three National Theatre hits confirmed, Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker (The Antipodes, John, The Flick) is a master at tunnelling into the nucleus of niche, private settings, populating them with a wholly plausible cocktail of characters and enthralling her audience with the early interactions and seminal conversations that take place between them. Infinite Life does all of the above, though unlike ritualistic The Antipodes or eerie John, it retains its naturalism through to the end.
Read more ...5. Vanya, Duke of York's Theatre ★★★★★
It shouldn’t work. How could one player capture the listless existence of an extended family holed up together on a country estate? The answer, it seems, is Andrew Scott. The actor, who has delivered star turns in Hamlet, Present Laughter, Fleabag and Sherlock among his many stage and screen roles, delivers a daringly phenomenal performance playing eight characters based on those in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
Read more ...4. Sunset Boulevard, Savoy Theatre ★★★★★
Standing ovations midway through a performance are a rare event – especially when it’s not the show’s lead they’re applauding (though Nicole Scherzinger is a wonderfully weird Norma Desmond). But on the press night of visionary director Jamie Lloyd’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s (book and lyrics) musical Sunset Boulevard, the first of three instances prompting the audience to rise to their feet was to cheer for advances in theatre technology.
Read more ...3. Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Gillian Lynne Theatre [STAR:5]
Three households living decades apart but united by geography are the subject of Chris Bush and Richard Hawley’s bittersweet musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Set on the sprawling, Grade II listed Park Hill housing estate in Sheffield, it charts the development, demise and regeneration of one of the UK’s most ambitious social housing schemes, through the interconnecting personal stories of three women and their loved ones. It's returning in 2024 for a West End run – cheers to that.
Read more ...2. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre ★★★★★
From the get-go, it’s clear that no expenses have been spared in bringing sci-fi series and Netflix crown jewel Stranger Things to the stage in all its unsettling, other-worldly splendour. It opens a little like a 4D cinema experience: smoke filling the auditorium, rumbles in our seats and video effects from 59 Productions sending creepy motifs from the series cascading up the proscenium arch of the Phoenix Theatre. It’s the jaw-dropping finale to a year that’s pushed the potential for special effects on stage into thrilling new realms.
Read more ...1. Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre ★★★★★
Director Nicholas Hytner, designer extraordinaire Bunny Christie and a team of tip-top musical theatre talent make this immersive Guys and Dolls a rip-roaring sensation. In dressing it up extravagantly and making its staging the main event, Hytner makes this Golden Age show feel thrilling and immediate. It’s immersive theatre at its best.
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