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Looking back: the best theatre shows in London, 2023

By Holly O'Mahony on 19/12/2023

In what's been a strong year for musical revivals and an even stronger one for advancements in tech on stage, we round up our top 10 theatre shows of 2023...

Mark Gatiss (Sir John Gielgud) and Johnny Flynn (Richard Burton) in The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre. Photo: Mark Douet

10. The Motive and the Cue, Noel Coward Theatre ★★★★★

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.

WHEN

09 Dec 2023 – 31 Mar 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

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

A Streetcar Named Desire. Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran. Photo: Marc Brenner

9. A Streetcar Named Desire, Phoenix Theatre ★★★★★

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.

WHEN

20 Mar 2023 – 06 May 2023, 7:30 PM – 10:15 PM

WHERE

Phoenix Theatre
110 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP

Joseph Fiennes (Gareth Southgate) in Dear England at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner

7. Dear England, Prince Edward Theatre ★★★★★

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.

WHEN

09 Oct 2023 – 13 Jan 2024, 7:00 PM – 9:50 PM

WHERE

National Theatre
South Bank, London, SE1 9PX

David Tennant and Cush Jumbo in Macbeth at the Donmar Warehouse. Photo: Marc Brenner

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.

WHEN

08 Dec 2023 – 10 Feb 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM

WHERE

Donmar Warehouse
41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, WC2H 9LX

Christina Kirk (Sofi), Kristine Nielsen (Ginnie), Brenda Pressley (Elaine) and Mia Katigbak (Yvette) in Infinite Life at the National Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner

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.

WHEN

22 Nov 2023 – 13 Jan 2024, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

WHERE

National Theatre
South Bank, London, SE1 9PX

Andrew Scott in Vanya. Photo: Marc Brenner

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.

WHEN

15 Sep 2023 – 21 Oct 2023, Previews at Richmond Theatre from 28 August to 2 September, then running at the Duke of York's Theatre from 15 September - 21 October

WHERE

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

Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard. Photo: Marc Brenner

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.

WHEN

21 Sep 2023 – 06 Jan 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

Savoy Theatre
Savoy Court , Strand, London, WC2R 0ET

Rachael Wooding (Rose) and Robert Lonsdale (Harry) in Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Photo: Johan Persson

3. Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Gillian Lynne Theatre ★★★★★

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.

WHEN

08 Feb 2024 – 03 Aug 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

The Gillian Lynne Theatre
166 Drury Lane, London, WC2B 5PW

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre review. Photo: Manuel Harlan

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.

WHEN

17 Nov 2023 – 25 Aug 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

Phoenix Theatre
110 Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP

Cast of Guys & Dolls at The Bridge Theatre. Photo: Manuel Harlan

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.

WHEN

27 Feb 2023 – 24 Feb 2024, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

WHERE

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

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 our top 10 theatre shows of 2023...

10. The Motive and the Cue, Noel Coward Theatre ★★★★★

9. A Streetcar Named Desire, Phoenix Theatre ★★★★★

7. Dear England, Prince Edward Theatre ★★★★★

8. Macbeth, Donmar Warehouse ★★★★★

6. Infinite Life, National Theatre ★★★★★

5. Vanya, Duke of York's Theatre ★★★★★

4. Sunset Boulevard, Savoy Theatre ★★★★★

3. Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Gillian Lynne Theatre ★★★★★

2. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Phoenix Theatre ★★★★★

1. Guys and Dolls, Bridge Theatre ★★★★★

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