Best London & West End theatre of 2025 – Critics’ Picks

An annual round-up of London theatre critics and their top picks of the Best West End & London Shows of 2025.

London theatre critics have spoken! At the end of every year London’s theatre critics publish their “Best of” lists of what they’ve seen and enjoyed the most in the West End and beyond.

Here’s our tally of the Best of the Best, bringing together all of their choices to see which shows have really landed!

Top-scoring shows include Evita starring Rachel Zegler at the London Palladium, and the Almeida Theatre’s production of Ava Pickett’s 1536 – both with five mentions from the critics.

Also topping the league tables with four mentions each are: Much Ado About Nothing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane starring Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell; The Weir at the Harold Pinter Theatre starring Brendan Gleeson; and smash-hit new West End show Paddington the Musical at the Savoy Theatre in London.

This listing will be updated as the critics publish their lists.

Also see: All Shows playing in London in 2026.

Best of the Best Theatre in 2025

Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph

Evita (London Palladium)
Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London)
Make It Happen (Edinburgh International Festival)
The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
The Last Stand of Mrs Mary Whitehouse (Nottingham Playhouse)
Inter Alia (National Theatre, London)
The Glass Menagerie (The Yard, London)
Titus Andronicus (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon)
Hedda (Theatre Royal Bath)
Churchill in Moscow (Orange Tree Theatre, London)

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*Evita at the London Palladium. Rachel Zegler. Photo by Marc Brenner*

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian

Stereophonic (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
Return to Palestine (Theatro Technis, London)
Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London)
Animal Farm (Theatre Royal Stratford East, London)
Hot Mess (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh; Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London)
1536 (Almeida Theatre, London)
The Maids (Donmar Warehouse, London)
Measure for Measure (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon)
The Railway Children (Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, West Yorkshire)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Chichester Festival Theatre; Theatre Royal Haymarket, London)

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Fiona Mountford, The i Paper

Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre, London)
Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse
1536, Almeida Theatre
Evita (London Palladium)
All My Sons (Wyndham’s Theatre, London)
The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
The Brightening Air, Old Vic Theatre
Every Brilliant Thing, @sohoplace
The Constant Wife (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon)
Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London)

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A puppet bear on stage. Paddington The Musical in London. Photo by Johan Persson — *Paddington The Musical in London. Photo by Johan Persson*

Clive Davis, The Times

My favourite: The Forsyte Saga (Park Theatre / RSC)
The surprise: Good Night, Oscar (Barbican Theatre)
The surprise: The Fifth Step (@SohoPlace Theatre)

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The Stage (London list)

1536, Almeida Theatre
Animal Farm (Theatre Royal Stratford East, London)
Deaf Republic (Royal Court Theatre, London)
Dealer’s Choice (Donmar Warehouse, London)
Evita (London Palladium)
Giant (Royal Court Theatre, London; Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
Hopeful Monsters (The Well Walk Theatre, London)
Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse
Mother Has Arrived (Corvi-Mora Gallery, London)
Otherland (Almeida Theatre, London)
Overheard in a Tower Block (Little Angel Theatre, London)
Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre, London)
Scenes from a Repatriation (Royal Court Theatre, London)
The Glass Menagerie (Yard Theatre, London)
The Maids (Donmar Warehouse, London)
The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
The Years (Royal Court Theatre, London; Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
Wrestleladswrestle (Battersea Arts Centre, London)

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*1536 at the Almeida Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray*

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut

Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London) & Evita (London Palladium)
Evita (London Palladium) & Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London)
All My Sons (Wyndham’s Theatre, London)
4.48 Psychosis (Royal Court Theatre, London)
1536 (Almeida Theatre, London)
Romans: A Novel (Almeida Theatre, London)
The Glass Menagerie (Yard Theatre, London)
Into the Woods (Bridge Theatre, London)
Stereophonic (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre, London)

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Sarah Crompton, What’s on Stage

Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse
Stereophonic (Duke of York’s Theatre, London)
Into the Woods (Bridge Theatre, London) / Paddington the Musical (Savoy Theatre, London)
The Weir (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)
1536 (Almeida Theatre, London) / Emma (Rose Theatre Kingston)
Cyrano de Bergerac (RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon)
All My Sons (Wyndham’s Theatre, London)
Rhinoceros, Romans: A Novel, Moon for the Misbegotten (Almeida Theatre, London)
Evita (London Palladium)
4.48 Psychosis (Royal Court Theatre, London)