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The best new theatre shows: London, February 2023

By Holly O'Mahony on 30/1/2023

Ancient works in exciting hands, West End transfers for winning productions and new writing breaking into major venues are among the highlights to look forward to from February's theatre offerings.

Phaedra, National Theatre

Writer-director and adapter extraordinaire Simon Stone (Yerma) reimagines Seneca's play about the Cretan princess Phaedra (here, a politician) consumed with love for her stepson. Janet McTeer (Ozark) plays the title role, with Assaad Bouab (Call My Agent) making his London stage debut as Hippolytus.

WHEN

Wednesday 1 February–Saturday 8 April 2023

WHERE

National Theatre, Upper Ground, London SE1 9PX

Shirley Valentine, Duke of York's Theatre

Olivier and BAFTA-winning actress Sheridan Smith stars in director Matthew Dunster's revival of Willy Russell's uplifting one-woman play about a disgruntled housewife who gets her mojo back on a holiday in Greece.

WHEN

17 February - 3 June

WHERE

Duke of York's Theatre
St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4BG

Medea, @sohoplace

Dominic Cooke (Good, The Normal Heart) is directing Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels in a new production of Euripides' Medea, running at new West End theatre @sohoplace.

WHEN

Friday 10 February–Saturday 22 April

WHERE

@sohoplace, 2 Soho Place, London WC1

Standing at the Sky's Edge, National Theatre

It opened to critical acclaim in Sheffield back in 2019, now new musical Standing at the Sky's Edge is finally getting its pandemic-delayed London run. With a book by the ever-exciting Chris Bush (Hungry, Nine Lessons and Carols), and music and lyrics by Richard Hawley, the show follows the lives and hopes of three generations living on an estate in Sheffield.

WHEN

Thursday 9 February–Saturday 25 March 2023

WHERE

National Theatre, Upper Ground, London SE1 9PX

The Great British Bake Off Musical, Noël Coward Theatre

The Noël Coward Theatre is being transformed into reality TV's famous white tent, as The Great British Bake Off Musical plays the West End for a limited run of 12 delicious weeks.

WHEN

25 Feb 2023 – 13 May 2023, 7:30 PM – 9:35 PM

WHERE

Noel Coward Theatre
St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4AU

The company of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at the Young Vic © Co-set Designer Laura Jellinek & Grace Laubacher, Costume Designer Terese Wadden, Lighting Designer Scott Zielinski, Projection Designer Joshua Thorson. Photography by Marc Brenner

Oklahoma!, Wyndham's Theatre

Director Daniel Fish's Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma! transfers from its critically-acclaimed run at the Young Vic to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre, keeping most of its original London cast intact.

WHEN

16 Feb 2023 – 02 Sep 2023, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

Wyndham's Theatre
32 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0DA

The Winter’s Tale, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

In a monumental first for Shakespeare’s Globe, associate artistic director Sean Holmes (The Tempest, Hamlet, Twelfth Night) presents a production of The Winter’s Tale that makes use of both the theatre’s candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and its outdoor auditorium, which usually remains closed in winter. The audience travels with the story from the stiff court of Sicilia in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to the more care-free, pastoral lands of Bohemia in the Globe Theatre – presumably come wind, rain or snow.

WHEN

09 Feb 2023 – 16 Apr 2023, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
21 New Globe Walk, London, SE1 9DT

Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre

It’s staged immersive Shakespeare and transformed its stage into a flooded Oxford for its adaptation of Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage, now the Bridge Theatre is putting on its first musical, running with a Golden Age classic: Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ 1950 hit, Guys and Dolls.

WHEN

27 Feb 2023 – 02 Sep 2023, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

Bridge Theatre
3 Potters Fields Park, London, SE1 2SG

Women, Beware the Devil, Almeida Theatre

Conversations with Friends star Alison Oliver joins a cast including Lydia Leonard and Leo Bill in bringing Sunday Times Playwriting Award-winner Lulu Raczka's historic drama to life. The Almeida's Rupert Goold directs.

WHEN

11 February - 25 March

WHERE

Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, London N1 1TA

Trouble in Butetown

In this world premiere by award-winning playwright Diana Nneka Atuona, an escaped African American soldier seeks safe harbour in an illegal boarding house in Cardiff. There's no segregation here, but who can he trust? Sarah Parish and Samuel Adewunmi star.

WHEN

10 February - 25 March

WHERE

Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LX

The best new theatre shows: London, February 2023

Ancient works in exciting hands, West End transfers for winning productions and new writing breaking into major venues are among the highlights to look forward to from February's theatre offerings.

Phaedra, National Theatre

Shirley Valentine, Duke of York's Theatre

Medea, @sohoplace

Standing at the Sky's Edge, National Theatre

The Great British Bake Off Musical, Noël Coward Theatre

Oklahoma!, Wyndham's Theatre

The Winter’s Tale, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre

Women, Beware the Devil, Almeida Theatre

Trouble in Butetown

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