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Theatre

Looking back: London's best theatre shows, 2022

By Holly O'Mahony on 19/12/2022

Stars making their West End debuts, award-winning collaborators reuniting and fresh takes on seasoned classics are among the theatre highlights that arrived on the London stage in 2022. Here are our favourites...

Company of Our Generation at the National Theatre. Photo: Johan Persson

Our Generation, National Theatre ★★★★★

Back in February, verbatim maestro Alecky Blythe returned to the National Theatre with Our Generation: a tour de force spotlighting the experiences of British teens today, whittled down from 656 hours of recorded interviews with 12 young people living across the UK. It was terrific and a triumph.

Read more ...
WHEN
Wednesday 23 February–Saturday 9 April 2022, 7pm–10:45pm
WHERE
National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX
My Neighbour Totoro, Barbican Theatre. Photo: Manuel Harlan (c) RSC, with Nippon TV

My Neighbour Totoro, Barbican Theatre ★★★★★

Adapting a beloved family film for the stage is a weighty task bearing the potential for disappointment. Fortunately, composer Joe Hisaishi, adaptor Tom Morton-Smith and director Phelim McDermott’s reimagining of Japanese anime My Neighbour Totoro for the RSC got it spot on, bringing the story to life through a flurry of lovable puppets, energetic leads and a grinning awareness of itself as a piece of magical realism.

Read more ...
WHEN
Saturday 8 October–Saturday 21 January 2023, 7pm–10pm
WHERE
Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
Tom Hollander as Boris Berezovsky in Peter Morgan's Patriots.  Photo: Marc Brenner

Patriots, Almeida Theatre ★★★★★

Peter Morgan’s Patriots is that rare thing: a play of historical and philosophical heft that sparkles like the bubbles in a flute of the best champagne, with fizzing, often very funny, dialogue.


It's good news for those who missed it: following a sell-out, critically acclaimed run at the Almeida Theatre, Patriots is getting a West End transfer in 2023, with Tom Hollander (The Night Manager) reprising his starring role as Berezovsky. Click here to book tickets.


Read more ...
WHEN
Friday 26 May 2023–Saturday 19 August 2023, 7:30pm–10:10pm
WHERE
Noel Coward Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4AU
The Antigone ensemble. Photo: Helen Murray

Antigone, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ★★★★★

Playwright and poet Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles, Three Sisters) not only modernised Sophocles’ great tragedy Antigone, the third of his Theban plays, he turned the 2,000-year-old story into a charged state-of-the-nation drama about contemporary Britain.

Read more ...
WHEN
Saturday 3–Saturday 24 September 2022, 7:30pm–10pm
WHERE
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NU
Moulin Rouge! The Musical. London company. Photo: Matt Crockett

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Piccadilly Theatre ★★★★★

After many a trial and tribulation to make it onto stage, writer John Logan and director Alex Timbers’ Tony-winning, Broadway-charming Moulin Rouge! The Musical proved ‘spectacular, spectacular’ – and worth the wait.

Read more ...
WHEN
Friday 12 Nov 2021–Saturday 11 February 2023, 7:30pm–10pm
WHERE
Piccadilly Theatre, 16 Denman Street, London W1D 7DY
Jodie Comer in Prima Facie. Photo: Helen Murray

Prima Facie, Harold Pinter Theatre ★★★★★

Jodie Comer delivered a compelling stage debut in Prima Facie, Australian playwright Suzie Miller’s award-winning play about a criminal justice system stacked against rape victims.

Read more ...
WHEN
Friday 15 April–Saturday 18 June 2022. Performances at 7:30pm with additional 3pm matinees
WHERE
Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DN
The Seagull. Emilia Clarke (Nina). Credit: Marc Brenner

The Seagull, Harold Pinter Theatre ★★★★★

The Jamie Lloyd Company (Cyrano de Bergerac) thrilled us again, this time with a minimally dressed take on Chekhov’s classic The Seagull, which was brought vividly to life by a skilled ensemble including Emilia Clarke and a show-stealing Indira Varma.

Read more ...
WHEN
Wednesday 29 June–Saturday 10 September 2022, 7:30pm–10pm
WHERE
Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DN
Samira Wiley (Angel) and Lincoln Conway (Ensemble) in Blues for an Alabama Sky. Photo: Marc Brenner

Blues for an Alabama Sky, National Theatre ★★★★★

Samira Wiley (Orange Is the New Black) and Giles Terera (Hamilton) delivered stunning performances in Lynette Linton’s mesmeric revival of Pearl Cleage’s 1995 play Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre.

Read more ...
WHEN
Wednesday 21 September–Saturday 5 November 2022, 7:30pm–10:15pm
WHERE
National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX
Punchdrunk's The Burnt City. Photo: Julian Abrams. Performers: Yilin Kong and Steven James Apicello

Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City, Woolwich Works ★★★★★

Pioneering immersive theatre company Punchdrunk returned to London for the first time in eight years with The Burnt City, an eerie, dance-led journey through the fall of Troy. If its storylines were ropey in places, it made up for it in atmosphere and the thrill of choose-your-own-adventure possibility.

Read more ...
WHEN
Tuesday 22 March–Sunday 4 December 2022, 6:30pm–9:30pm
WHERE
Woolwich Works, The Fireworks Factory, 11 No 1 Street, Woolwich Royal Arsenal, London SE18 6HD
Solomon Israel, Tony Marshall and Sule Rimi in Jitney at The Old Vic

Jitney, Old Vic Theatre ★★★★★

Jitney, August Wilson’s 1977-set play about an unlicensed firm of taxi cab drivers, hadn't been seen on the London stage in 20 years. But in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in the US, and the Windrush scandal in the UK – incidents which have led to a moral reckoning and an awakening to the reality of white privilege – Jitney was ripe for a revival, so bravo to the Old Vic, Headlong and Leeds Playhouse, who co-produced a brilliant touring production, directed by Tinuke Craig.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 9 June–Saturday 9 July 2022, 7:30pm–10pm
WHERE
The Old Vic, The Cut, London SE1 8NB

BEST REVIVALS

Mark Rylance in Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre. Credit: Simon Annand

Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, Apollo Theatre ★★★★★

Jez Butterworth’s smash-hit play Jerusalem returned to the stage after 2009’s sell-out five-star premiere and equally lauded West End and Broadaway transfers. Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook reprised their starring roles, and a whole new audience discovered why the show has been dubbed 'the greatest play of the century'.

Read more ...
WHEN
Saturday 16 April–Saturday 6 August 2022. Performances at 7:30pm with additional 2:30pm matinees
WHERE
Apollo Theatre, 31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ES
Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith [STAR:5]

Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith ★★★★★

Taking its title from Greek drama, this one-woman play relocates the mythic heroine Iphigenia to the Welsh town of Splott. Effie, as she is known, is on a downward spiral of substance abuse and hangovers. Sophie Melville reprised the starring role, after winning The Stage award for acting excellence.

Read more ...
WHEN
Monday 26 September–Saturday 22 October
WHERE
Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Lyric Square, King Street, London W6 0QL

A HIGHLY COMMENDED ONE TO WATCH

Age Is A Feeling, Soho Theatre

Age is a Feeling, Soho Theatre

Haley McGee's moving, life-affirming and exquisitely written Age is a Feeling got the crowds talking at Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, before promptly selling out at Soho Theatre where it transferred for the autumn. Narrated in the second person, it sees a woman reflect on moments from her long life – moments which the audience chooses from a range of potential scenes. If you missed it last time, book now to catch its return in February.

Read more ...
WHEN
Tuesday 14 February–Saturday 11 March 2023
WHERE
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
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