Book now: the best theatre of 2018
Enticing Shakespeare and Pinter revivals jostle with bold new writing and plenty of stars for a new year of unmissable London theatre
Ian McKellen's King Lear, Duke of York's Theatre
From the global fame of Gandalf and Magneto, to an illustrious 60 year stage career at the RSC, National Theatre and across the West End, Sir Ian McKellen is firmly within National Treasure territory and widely regarded as one of our finest living actors. Don't miss your chance to see him play King Lear on the West End.
Read more ...The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter Theatre
Sixty years since Harold Pinter shifted the boundaries of theatre with his first major play, The Birthday Party, a top-notch team of creatives revive the menacing comedy. Toby Jones, Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan and Pearl Mackie add extra star power.
Read more ...John, National Theatre
Annie Baker's play The Flick was a sellout success at the National's Dorfman Theatre in 2016. It cemented Baker's reputation as one of America's brightest young talents with a gift for capturing the ordinary cadences of conversation – and it scared away a fair few traditionalists, too. This year, Baker returns with a new play about the uncanny impact of inanimate objects.
Read more ...Julius Caesar, The Bridge Theatre
Ben Whishaw and Michelle Fairley lead a coup in Nicholas Hytner's promenade production of Julius Caesar. It's the second show to grace the Bridge Theatre and, with Hytner's proven pedigree for staging Shakespeare, it's likely to be the show to really put this new theatre on the map.
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Wyndham's Theatre
Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical drama A Long Day's Journey Into Night comes to the West End after an impressive opening at the Bristol Old Vic, where it was hailed 'marvellous... a glory', 'electrifying, intense' and 'tantalisingly close to perfection'.
Read more ...Girls & Boys, Royal Court Theatre
Carey Mulligan returns to the Royal Court to lend some Hollywood star dust to a new play that boasts the talents of writer Dennis Kelly (Matilda the Musical, RSC and West End) and director Lyndsey Turner (Hamlet, Barbican; Posh, Royal Court).
Read more ...Frozen, Theatre Royal Haymarket
Before Elsa, Anna and Olaf the Snowman made Frozen synonymous with feel-good family festivity, playwright Bryony Lavery wrote a darkly psychological thriller about a family torn apart by tragedy. Now Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones leads a revival.
Fanny and Alexander, Old Vic Theatre
Ingmar Bergman's masterful 1982 film Fanny and Alexander is re-imagined for the stage. Expect gilded Scandi backdrops and a rich, complex portrait of childhood, family ties, godlessness and, ultimately, love.
Macbeth, National Theatre
Superstition, ambition and bloody violence come to the National Theatre as Rufus Norris directs Macbeth. Veteran actors Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff play the power-hungry couple.
Read more ...Kneehigh's Brief Encounter, Empire Cinema
Emma Rice's jubilant stage adaptation of the classic film returns with a new site-specific production merging stage and silver screen.
Read more ...The Inheritance, Young Vic Theatre
It's an epic two-part play about gay life in New York in the shadow of the AIDs crisis... No, not Tony Kushner's Angels in America, but a world premiere by Matthew Lopez, which comes to the Young Vic to ask: ‘What do gay men hand down from one generation to the next? What do we learn from our past? How do we heal? How do we change?’
Read more ...Strictly Ballroom The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre
Baz Lurhmann,(Moulin Rouge!, Romeo and Juliet and The Great Gatsby ) brings his trademark spectacle and glamour to the stage in a musical theatre adapation of his 1992 film Strictly Ballroom.
Read more ...The Way of the World, Donmar Warehouse
The Way Of The World is, according to William Congreve, that of money, desire and duplicity. Now the classic comedy of manners comes to the Donmar Warehouse in a new production by director James Macdonald.
Read more ...Quiz, Noël Coward Theatre
Finishing off a hat trick of hits over the last year, James Graham's Quiz comes to the West End. Much like Labour of Love and Ink, this new play makes thrilling theatre from real life events. Quiz draws on the traditions of TV gameshows to explore the 'coughing major' scandal that shook ITV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Read more ...Fun Home, Young Vic Theatre
Looking for theatre that meets the 'two women converse about something other than a man' requirement of the Bechdel test? Well, you can’t do better than a story written by Alison Bechdel, the cartoonist and writer who coined the term. This musical theatre adaptation of Bechdel's memoir comes to the Young Vic after causing a sensation in New York.
Read more ...The King and I, Palladium Theatre
Rogers and Hammerstein's classic 1951 musical The King and I comes to London after impressing at New York's Lincoln Center. Bartlett Sher's new production has has already been praised by critics as 'resplendent' and 'clarifying'.
Read more ...The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, Noel Coward Theatre
Poldark's Aidan Turner makes his West End debut to play an Irish terrorist with a penchant for cats in a revival Martin McDonagh's disturbingly dark comedy The Lieutenant Of Inishmore.
Read more ...Company, Gielgud Theatre
Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Company – the 1970 show that set new records with 14 Tony nominations and a new standard for smart, insightful musical theatre – gets a fresh, feminist makeover. Instead of a male hero, we have Rosalie Craig making the main part female.
Read more ...