From Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to Home, I’m Darling, this is our regularly updated guide to the best plays currently on the London stage. Theatre doesn’t get better than this!
Lily James in All About Eve. Noel Coward Theatre
All About Eve ★★★
Where: Noel Coward Theatre
Address: 85-88 St Martin’s Ln, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4AP
Until: 11 May 2019
In a nutshell: ‘Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.‘ One of the most highly anticipated premieres of 2019. Lily James stars as Eve Harrington, a predatory fan obsessed with status-anxious Broadway star Margo Channing (played by Gillian Anderson), in this efficient staging by Ivo van Hove of the 1950 silver-screen classic.
Shipwreck. Almeida Theatre. Credit: Marc Brenner
Shipwreck ★★★★
Where: Almeida Theatre
Address: Almeida Street, London, N1 1TA
Until: 30 March 2019
In a nutshell: Liberal Americans slug it out in Anne Washburn’s sprawling political drama that unpicks the messy demise of democracy in a Trumpian world
Betrayal
Where: Harold Pinter Theatre
Address: 6 Panton Street London SW1Y 4DN
Until: 1 June 2019
In a nutshell: Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox star in Harold Pinter’s compelling drama charting a seven-year romance thrilling told in reverse chronological order.
Bodies. Southwark Playhouse
Bodies ★★★★
Where: Southwark Playhouse
Address: 77-85 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BD
Until: 9 March 2019
In a nutshell: James Saunders’ impeccably performed 70s piece takes on big issues as two couples swap partners and explore the poetry of pain
Adrian Lester & Katy Sullivan. Cost of living. Hampstead Theatre
Cost of Living ★★★★
Where: Hampstead Theatre
Address: Eton Ave, London NW3 3EU
Until: 9 March 2019
In a nutshell: Adrian Lester (Hustle) stars as a truck driver called Eddie who’s attempting a rapprochement with his estranged wife Ani, left quadriplegic after a road accident, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. It’s wistfully touching in parts, droll in others.
Edward II. Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Credit: Marc Brenner
Edward II ★★★
Where: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Address: 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT
Until: 20 April 2019
In a nutshell: This new production of Marlowe’s most frequently performed work lends an urgency and a terrific sense of pace to the proceedings, before the play slows down in its final act when we witness Edward’s long lamentations as he prepares to die.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Palace Theatre. Credit: Manuel Harlan
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ★★★★★
Where: Palace Theatre
Address: Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 5AY
Until: 28 July 2019
In a nutshell: Tremors of excitement at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the first Potter play, and the eighth story in the publishing phenomenon that made J K Rowling’s name and fortune – are being felt across the world… The big news is that this is just what was needed, will raise the benchmark for family entertainment for years to come and may even usher in a whole cycle of Potter-world stories.
Katherine Parkinson & Richard Harrington. Home, I’m Darling. Credit Manuel Harlan
Home, I’m Darling ★★★★
Where: Duke of York’s Theatre
Address: St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4BG
Until: 13 April 2019
In a nutshell: A West End transfer for Laura Wade’s accomplished serio-comedy about a couple trying to turn back the clock on social and marital relations, with Katherine Parkinson hugely watchable and touchingly brittle as a self-made Fifties housewife. Feminist? Anti-feminist? You decide
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The American Clock. Old Vic Theatre
The American Clock ★★★★
Where: Old Vic Theatre
Address: The Cut, Lambeth, London SE1 8NB
Until: 30 March 2019
In a nutshell: Arthur Miller’s play about the Wall Street Crash explores the cost – in human terms – of the momentous unravelling of American capitalism in 1929. Director Rachel Chavkin’s adventurous production intercuts the text with song and dance numbers, including hits from the roaring Twenties, creating a kind of ballroom of the damned.
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Jesus Hopped the A train. Young Vic Theatre. Credit: Johan Persson
Jesus Hopped the A train ★★★
Where: Young Vic Theatre
Address: 66 The Cut, Waterloo, London
Until: 30 March 2019
In a nutshell: From Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis, comes this critically-acclaimed dark comedy about the American justice system and the contradictory nature of faith. With vivid dialogue, a powerful setting and strong performances, Kate Hewitt’s revival is ‘Like a shot of caffeine straight in the veins’ The Guardian
The Comedy About a Bank Robbery. Criterion Theatre.
The Comedy About A Bank Robbery ★★★★★
Where: Criterion Theatre
Address: Piccadilly Circus London SW1Y 4XA
Until: 3 November 2019
In a nutshell: The jokes come thick and fast in this entirely original stage comedy that pays explicit homage to B-movie bank robbery capers. This “lung-bustingly funny”(Guardian), “screw-ball comedy” (Time Out) “will have you on the edge of your seat” (The Stage), in what “is the funniest show in the West End” (The Telegraph).
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time ★★★★★
Where: Piccadilly Theatre
Address: 16 Denman Street London W1D 7DY
Until: 27 April 2019
In a nutshell: The National Theatre’s Tony & Olivier Award adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel remains a thing of unbridled wonder. Ultimately ‘Curious Incident’ is a tragedy about a family torn apart by the pressures of looking after their son Christopher – a teenage ‘mathematician with some behavioural difficulties’ who investigates the killing of his neighbour’s dog.
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The Play That Goes Wrong. Duchess Theatre. Credit Helen Murray
The Play That Goes Wrong ★★★★
Where: Duchess Theatre
Address: 3-5 Catherine Street London WC2B 5LA
Until: 27 October 2019
In a nutshell: The multi-award winning play-within-a play comedy about a theatre troupe trying to stage a 1920s murder mystery. As props start to disappear, actors go missing and the set begins to fall down around the cast, mayhem ensues and everything that could go wrong, does!
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When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each. National Theatre. Credit: Stephen Cummiskey
When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other ★★★
Where: National Theatre
Address: Upper Ground, Lambeth, London SE1 9PX
Until: 2 March 2019 (returns only)
In a nutshell: Cate Blanchett makes her NT debut alongside Stephen Dillane, in a play by Martin Crimp inspired by Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel Pamela, in which a 15-year-old maidservant suffers – but succumbs to – the advances of her landowning master. It’s a chilly, shocking oddity, redeemed by Blanchett’s presence.
The Price. Wyndham’s Theatre. Credit: Nobby Clarke
The Price ★★★★★
Where: Wyndham’s Theatre
Address: Charing Cross Rd, Covent Garden, London WC2H 0DA
Until: 27 April 2019
In a nutshell: A superb production of one of Arthur Miller’s best plays, starring David Suchet as a wisecracking New York Jewish furniture dealer hired by a middle-aged cop to evaluate a roomful of heirlooms – the cue for a heated row over who’s owed what when the latter’s estranged brother swans in. There’s terrific work too from Brendan Coyle, Adrian Lukis and Sara Stewart.
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