Best new theatre shows: London, June 2023

Dear England, National Theatre

Celebrated playwright James Graham turns his attention to football, exploring the struggles of the England men's team through their manager Gareth Southgate in a new play premiering at the National Theatre.

Dr Semmelweis, Harold Pinter Theatre

Following an applauded opening run at Bristol Old Vic last year, Dr Semmelweis, a play conceived by and starring the great Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), is coming to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre. It celebrates the work of Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis, an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures, whose research had the potential to save thousands of mothers during childbirth, but whose methods were largely overlooked at the time.

The Pillowman, Duke of York's Theatre

Twenty years after it premiered at the National Theatre in a production starring David Tennant, and having already run on Broadway, Martin McDonagh's seminal play The Pillowman makes its West End debut. Lily Allen (2:22 – A Ghost Story) stars in the gender-flipped role of Katurian, a writer of gruesome short stories involving children, who has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

When Winston Went to War With the Wireless, Donmar Warehouse

Jack Thorne's 'true story about truth' reimagines the period in 1926 when The General Strike saw the printing press of Great Britain shut down, leaving the reporting of the news to the not-exactly-unbiased government-run publication The British Gazette, edited by then Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill, and the BBC – then in its infancy and led by John Reith. What commenced was a battle for control over the news, and through it, who was telling the truth.

A Strange Loop, Barbican Theatre

Put your Broadway envy to one side for now, because Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Strange Loop is bursting onto the Barbican Theatre stage this June, bringing with it a string of rave reviews. In it, an ensemble portrays a young black artist grappling with his desires and identity as he struggles to break from self-perception.

All Of It, Royal Court

Alistair McDowall's 45-minute monologue All Of It, written specifically for performer Kate O'Flynn, ran at the Royal Court in 2020. Now, it's been grouped into a trilogy, and is being performed at the Royal Court – again by O'Flynn – together with new works Northleigh, 1940 and In Stereo. Between them, they follow a woman trapped at home during an air raid; a mother who starts to see double; and a whole life lived in one breath.

Romeo and Juliet, Almeida Theatre

Director Rebecca Frecknall (A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke) takes a break from her love affair with Tennessee Williams to put her mark on the Bard's most tragic love story. It's an exciting prospect, and one that sees her direct Isis Hainsworth (Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, Red Rose) opposite Emmy Award-nominee Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso, Nine Lessons and Carols) as the star-crossed lovers.

Robin Hood, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

While this fresh take on the Robin Hood legend is aimed at families with kids aged eight and up, its creative team are bound to lace the story with plenty to appeal to adult sensibilities. The adaptation comes from Carl Grose, former deputy artistic director of recently retired Kneehigh Theatre Company (RIP!), who wrote their riotous show Dead Dog in a Suitcase. Meanwhile, innovative director Melly Still (The Wreckers and climate play The Gretchen Question) is steering it onto stage.

Tambo & Bones, Theatre Royal Stratford East

American poet and playwright Dave Harris's Tambo & Bones has been the subject of hotly contested press coverage even before its arrival at Theatre Royal Stratford East this summer. Plans for a single Black Out performance of the show, to which only Black audiences have been encouraged to attend, got several right wing publications in a tizz. Yet, it's hard to argue with the production team wanting to run a performance of the play, which follows two Black actors trapped in a minstrel show, for Black audiences to enjoy without having to worry about the white gaze, isn't it?

Already a hit across the pond, Tambo & Bones fuses clowning and hip-hop with the more serious theme of the Black Lives Matter movement. Here, it's directed by Matthew Xia.

The Shape of Things, Park Theatre

Neil LaBute’s play The Shape of Things was an instant hit following its premiere at the Almeida Theatre in 2001. So much so, it was adapted into a movie, taking all four of its cast members – Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Fred Weller and Gretchen Mol – with it.

Over 20 years on and this new production helmed by director Nicky Allpress proves the story has lost none of its bite – it's compelling and horrifying in equal measure. On Peter Butler’s stripped back set, we’re teleported back to the late nineties through a parade of baggy jeans, sheer tops, hair clips and chunky trainers – plus a nostalgia-heavy soundtrack plugging the gap between scenes.

Amber Anderson (Peaky Blinders, Strike) is deliciously cruel as the conniving temptress Evelyn, the artist who plays puppet master with the other three. Bridgerton’s Luke Newton is appropriately putty like, transforming emotionally and physically to suit her wishes. Opposite them, Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy and Carla Harrison-Hodge are just right as misogynistic ‘bro’ Phillip and girl-next-door Jenny.

See this knife-sharp anti-rom-com while you can.

WEST END TRANSFERS

The Crucible, Gielgud Theatre

Lyndsey Turner’s production of The Crucible, originally for The National Theatre, is transferring to the West End this June with a new cast of screen favourites including Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Abigail Williams, Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex) as Elizabeth Proctor, and Brian Gleeson (Bad Sisters) as John Proctor.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Theatre Royal Haymarket

Following a well-received run at Lyric Hammersmith, Tom Basden's adaptation of Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s satire transfers to the West End's Theatre Royal Haymarket, with star Daniel Rigby reprising his role.