The best new theatre shows: London 2023

A Streetcar Named Desire, Almeida Theatre

Paul Mescal of Normal People fame stars alongside Patsy Ferran (Summer and Smoke, Three Sisters) and Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts) in a new production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre. And who better to direct it than the ever-brilliant Rebecca Frecknall, who delivered the theatre's sensational take on Williams' Summer and Smoke in 2018/19.

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.

Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre

Kate Prince's suffragette musical Sylvia is being fully realised at the Old Vic, after running there as a work-in-progress in 2018. The cast is mouth-watering, featuring world-famous soul singer Beverley Knight (The Bodyguard, Memphis et al) as Emmeline Pankhurst and Sharon Rose (Hamilton, Caroline or Change, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) in the title role.

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.

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.

The Pillowman, Duke of York's Theatre

Twenty years after it premiered at the National Theatre in a production starring David Tennant, and having already run on Broadway, Martin McDonagh's seminal play The Pillowman makes its West End debut. Lily Allen (2:22 – A Ghost Story) stars in the gender-flipped role of Katurian, a writer of gruesome short stories involving children, who has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Berlusconi: A New Musical, Southwark Playhouse

Fleabag and Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody is working with writers Ricky Simmonds and Simon Vaughan (who met as child actors on Grange Hill) to tell the 'almost true' story of three-time Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – as a musical. Pitched as 'Evita on acid' and a 'modern-day cautionary tale', it tells the story of the populist leader through the eyes of various women in his life including his second wife, the magistrate who investigated him and a journalist.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, Harold Pinter Theatre

If words were strictly limited, what would you say? Such is the premise of Sam Steiner’s play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons. The two-hander was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015, and now it comes to the West End for 2023. Jenna Coleman (The Serpent, Doctor Who) and Aidan Turner (Poldark, The Lieutenant of Inishmore) star in the show, which is being directed by former Donmar Warehouse boss Josie Rourke.

A Little Life, Harold Pinter Theatre

Belgian director Ivo van Hove helms the first English-language stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s best-selling novel A Little Life. The production stars James Norton (Happy Valley, Grantchester) as the story’s troubled hero Jude, with Bridgerton's Luke Thompson, It's a Sin's Omari Douglas and The Witcher's Zach Wyatt playing his close friends Willem, JB and Malcolm.

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.

The Lehman Trilogy, Gillian Lynne Theatre

Stefan Massini's finance saga opened at the National to critical acclaim in 2018 before transferring to the West End and later Broadway. Having scooped up five Tony Awards, including Best Play, The Lehman Trilogy is returning to London in January 2023.

Mrs. Doubtfire, Shaftesbury Theatre

Fresh from Broadway (via Manchester), a new musical based on hit 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire comes to the West End. Wig, stockings and bust at the ready: it's Euphegenia Doubtfire, dear, and she's here to make things ship-shape.

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.

Titus Andronicus, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Steel yourself: a new production of Shakespeare’s first and most gory tragedy, Titus Andronicus, is getting 2023 off to a stomach-lurching start in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. It won’t be all blood-thirsty horror and no poignance, though, when exciting director Jude Christian (Dick Whittington) is at the helm.

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.