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Theatre

London theatre: best plays, May 2022

By Holly O'Mahony on 5/5/2022

May's theatre sees some serious stars arrive on the London stage. There's also big musical revivals, daring new writing and fresh takes on Shakespeare to sink your teeth into.

Legally Blonde the Musical, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Photo: Courtney Bowman

Legally Blonde the Musical, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

'Omigod you guys!' Legally Blonde the Musical gets its first major UK revival this summer at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. The new production, helmed by Six director Lucy Moss, stars Courtney Bowman (Six, Everybody's Talking About Jamie) in the central role and kicks off the theatre's 90th birthday season.

Read more ...
WHEN
Friday 13 May – Saturday 2 July, 7:45pm – 10:30pm
WHERE
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Inner Circle, London NW1 4NU
Henry VIII, Shakespeare’s Globe

Henry VIII, Shakespeare’s Globe

Women Beware Women and Fantastically Great Women Who Change The World director Amy Hodge teams up with the Globe’s resident writer Hannah Khalil (A Museum in Baghdad) to examine Shakespeare’s final play, Henry VIII, from a female perspective.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 19 May – Friday 21 October, performance times vary
WHERE
The Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT
My Fair Lady, London Coliseum. Photo: Cast of The Lincoln Center Theater production

My Fair Lady, London Coliseum

Oh, wouldn't it be luvverly to see My Fair Lady curtsey its way onto the West End stage again? It’s been 21 long years since the last major revival of Lerner and Loewe’s best-loved musical, when Trevor Nunn’s multi-Olivier-winning production, starring Martine McCutcheon, impressed at both the National and Theatre Royal Drury Lane.


Well, we need wait no longer, because The Lincoln Centre’s critically acclaimed 2018 production, helmed by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher (Oslo, The King and I) arrives in the West End this month.

Read more ...
WHEN
Saturday 7 May – Saturday 27 August, performances at 7pm with additional 2pm matinees
WHERE
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES
Amy Adams in The Glass Menagerie, Duke of York’s Theatre

Amy Adams in The Glass Menagerie, Duke of York’s Theatre

Six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams (Nocturnal Animals, Sharp Objects) makes her West End debut in a new production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, directed by Jeremy Herrin (Wolf Hall trilogy, People, Places and Things) and designed by Vicki Mortimer (Follies, Wise Children).

Read more ...
WHEN
Monday 23 May – Sunday 28 August, times TBC
WHERE
Duke of York's Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4BG
Britannicus, Lyric Hammersmith

Britannicus, Lyric Hammersmith

It's a Sin's Nathaniel Curtis stars in writer Timberlake Wertenbaker and director Atri Banerjee's modern-day retelling of Jean Racine's Britannicus, a tale of one dictator's corruption-fuelled rise to power.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 26 May - Saturday 25 June, 7:30pm
WHERE
Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, London W6 0QL
Father and Assassin, National Theatre

Father and Assassin, National Theatre

Oppression and extremism are at the fore as director Indhu Rubasingham (The Great Wave) reunites with playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar to tell the story of the man who murdered Mahatma Gandhi.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 12 May - Saturday 18 June, 7:30pm
WHERE
National Theatre, Upper Ground, London SE1 9PX
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's Globe

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's Globe

JMK Award-winner Diane Page takes on Shakespeare's tale of tyranny, deceit and treachery in Rome, infusing the story with contemporary relevance.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 5 May - Saturday 10 September
WHERE
Shakespeare's Globe, 21 New Globe Walk, London SE1 9DT
The House of Shades, Almeida Theatre

The House of Shades, Almeida Theatre

The brilliant Bafta and Olivier Award-nominated Anne-Marie Duff (His Dark Materials) leads the cast of the world premiere of Most Promising Playwright-winner Beth Steel’s new play, charting the ever-changing industrial landscape of working-class Britain. The story centres on the Webster family, charting five decades of their hopes and dreams, lives and deaths. Blanche McIntyre (Hymn) returns to the Almeida to direct.

Read more ...
WHEN
Saturday 7 May - Saturday 18 June, 7pm
WHERE
Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London N1 1TA
The Breach, Hampstead Theatre

The Breach, Hampstead Theatre

Kentucky-born playwright Naomi Wallace presents the UK debut of her latest play The Breach, a dark, coming-of-age story about a group of teens growing up in the turbulence of 1970s America. Seventeen-year-old Jude will do anything to keep her younger brother Acton safe. But when a game takes a dangerous turn, it threatens to derail their lives forever. Artistic director of Manchester Royal Exchange Sarah Frankcom helms the show.

Read more ...
WHEN
Friday 6 May - Saturday 4 June
WHERE
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 3EU
Operation Mincemeat, Riverside Studios

Operation Mincemeat, Riverside Studios

SpitLip's musical comedy Operation Mincemeat first had London audiences guffawing in 2019, but the company – a collaboration between Fringe favourites Kill the Beast and composer Felix Hagan – used the pandemic to re-write the show into something sharper, tighter and even funnier. Based on a real WWII operation that helped the Brits deceive Hitler and successfully invade Sicily, this smart, high-speed, song-filled remake is a wickedly entertaining riot. It's had two hit runs at Southwark Playhouse and now transfers to Riverside Studios. Catch it while you can.

Read more ...
WHEN
Thursday 5 May - Saturday 9 July, 7:30pm - 9:15pm
WHERE
Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, London W6 9BN
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  • Henry VIII Shakespeare's Globe 2022.  Adam Gillen as King Henry VIII Janet Etuk as Anne Bullen. Photo: Marc Brenner

    Henry VIII, Shakespeare’s Globe review ★★★★★



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