It has been another jaunty year for theatre – in the capital, at least. Yet while London thrives, it is a different story altogether for regional venues, starved too often of cash and support. I say this every year but it is a fundamental fact that merits repeating: the UK’s theatre sector, the envy of the world, is an ecosystem that requires all elements to be in good health, not just those with the highest visibility factor.
In the West End, two critically lauded musicals have dominated headlines – and both Evita and Paddington make it into my top 10. Jamie Lloyd, the director of this ravishing Evita rethink, actually snaffles two of the slots, as does Irish playwright/director Conor McPherson, despite the disappointment of his much-anticipated stage adaptation of The Hunger Games.
It has been heartening to watch the august Royal Shakespeare Company grow in confidence and stature under co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey; the RSC also hops into my highlights honours this year. Rupert Goold is coming to the end of his golden decade at the Almeida and it will be thrilling to watch what he does in his new home at the Old Vic.
The Donmar Warehouse under Tim Sheader has once again proved itself a tiny powerhouse for both plays and musicals and Justin Audibert and Nikolai Foster continue their impressive tenures at, respectively, Chichester Festival Theatre and Curve, Leicester.
Here are my top 10 plays of the year:
10. Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre Royal Drury Lane
My favourite pair of characters in all of Shakespeare is Beatrice and Benedick, those waspishly witty would-be wooers of Much Ado. Such verbal dynamism requires – but too often doesn’t receive – actors of the highest calibre, so what a treat it was to watch Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell fling sparky insults at each other in Jamie Lloyd’s club-set production.
This duo danced with abandon, drew the audience into a sense of complicity and had such fun that the show’s less successful elements could be overlooked. Hiddleston is such a warm, open and intelligent performer that we could not help but to root for Benedick to stop mucking about and to declare his love properly. Read the full review here.
9. The Constant Wife, RSC Swan Theatre
The RSC’s co-artistic director Tamara Harvey and playwright Laura Wade, best known for her television work on Rivals, have collaborated fruitfully in the past and they teamed up again for this perky re-imagining of a now overlooked 1926 Somerset Maugham drama.
Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie played the titular spouse, whose discovery that her husband was having an affair did not elicit the expected response. There was an overall sensation of arch glitter covering deep profundity, in the style of Noel Coward. A sumptuous set and costumes made this a visual feast too. No wonder it is being revived for a tour, now starring Kara Tointon, next year.
On tour to multiple venues from 16 January (rsc.org.uk)
8. Every Brilliant Thing, @sohoplace
One-person shows are enough of a rarity in the West End, but a “one-person comedy about suicidal depression with audience participation” is quite possibly the least promising tagline imaginable. How deceptive descriptions can be, as this glossy revival of Duncan Macmillan’s charming piece about a seven-year-old boy trying to cheer up his hospitalised mother was a warm delight that didn’t shy away from the tougher emotions.
Lenny Henry headed a classy roster of solo performers – Sue Perkins, Ambika Mod and Minnie Driver came later – prepared to interact heavily with the audience in @sohoplace’s ideal in-the-round auditorium. Read the full review here.
7. The Brightening Air, Old Vic Theatre
A rich, Chekhovian air of stasis and change suffused this comic yet poignant new drama from Conor McPherson, as tempers rose among the grown-up siblings in a decrepit family home in 1980s Sligo. The acting ensemble, headed by Chris O’Dowd and an outstanding Rosie Sheehy as autistic Billie, was of the highest calibre, as McPherson directed his own work with elegant lightness of touch.
With its themes of lost love and missed opportunity, this is a piece of drama that is surely going to endure down the decades, gaining in richness and resonance with each revival. Read the full review here.
6. The Weir, Harold Pinter Theatre
Conor McPherson strikes again. His 1997 drama of a seemingly non-event of tall tales and community connection in a rural Irish pub is revived regularly, yet never before has it enjoyed the presence of Irish acting legend Brendan Gleeson in the cast.
Gleeson possesses that rare and precious talent of making any line sound dryly witty and what a coup this proved for McPherson the director, whose words achieved a height of gaiety and depth of gravitas they had never attained previously. So conducive was an evening in this particular hostelry, in the company of the tight-knit group of regulars, that we never wanted last orders to be called.
5. All My Sons, Wyndham’s Theatre
Feted Belgian director Ivo Van Hove made his name in this country more than a decade ago with a transformational take on the Arthur Miller classic A View from the Bridge. Van Hove displays his best form in years for this return to Miller, with Bryan Cranston leading an impeccable cast – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Paapa Essiedu and Hayley Squires – as patriarch Joe Keller, who is forced to confront the present moral consequences of past actions.
I have never seen a better production of this play. Van Hove imbues it with the grim yet towering momentum, inexorability and universality of a Greek tragedy.
To 7 March, Wyndham’s Theatre, London, WC2 (allmysonsplay.com)
Read the full review here
4. Evita, London Palladium
This show received some criticism about its stripped-back storytelling being less than clear for the uninitiated. Yet for those familiar with the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Jamie Lloyd’s pounding revisionist staging, throbbing with sex and muscle, was an absolute joyride.
Rachel Zegler starred as a fiercely transactional Eva Perón, famously singing “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from a balcony outside the Palladium to the crowds mingling in the street below; this became the must-see free event of the London summer. Think Cabaret-does-military dictatorship and you’ll get an idea of the dazzling aesthetic of the Broadway-bound piece. Read the full review here.
3. 1536, Almeida Theatre
It is always a cause for great celebration when a new playwright arrives on the scene with a notable debut play. This is precisely what Ava Pickett did with an incisive and witty drama set in the titular year when Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn was on the rocks.
Rumours of royal rumpus reach a trio of young women in faraway Essex, leading them to ruminate earthily on what it means to be female in patriarchal times. Three delightful performances from Liv Hill, Siena Kelly and the ever marvellous Tanya Reynolds crowned a triumphant evening. A West End transfer deservedly beckons next year – I for one cannot wait to see it again.
2 May – 1 August 2026, Ambassadors Theatre, London WC2 (1536onstage.com)
2. Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse
Double Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynn Nottage’s masterful 2003 drama about a lonely Black seamstress who makes prestige underwear for rich white clients in 1905 New York is a bona fide modern classic; I am only bewildered that it is not performed more often.
Nottage specialist Lynette Linton, who made her name overnight with a production of Nottage’s drama Sweat at the Donmar in 2018, directed a devastatingly fine show headed by The Handmaid’s Tale star Samira Wiley. I defy anyone to suggest a more seductively sexy theatrical moment this year than when Wiley’s Esther brushed a hair from the jacket of Alex Waldmann’s gentle Jewish merchant, as the pair shared a flirtation via fabric.
1. Paddington the Musical, Savoy Theatre
He was the little bear that could – and did. Not content with conquering the world through his recent trio of films, Darkest Peru’s finest is now a bona fide West End star, ingeniously presented by two performers (one in an onstage bear costume, the other providing the voice from offstage) in this delightful new British musical that looks set to run and run.
Paddington’s warmth, kindness and good manners abound in a tuneful story that will delight the kids and leave older family members snuffling softly at the deceptively profound insights about home and belonging. Look out for some ravishing designs too. Every detail of this show is exquisite.
Booking into 2027, Savoy Theatre, London WC2 (paddingtonthemusical.com) Read the full review here.
