WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Other Palace RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 12/2, press night 18/2 runs to 3/5/20 UPDATE: This production opens at Shaftesbury Theatre for 10 weeks from 30 June 2021 Tickets
Would you pop a pill to Be More Chill?
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE? Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre RUNTIME: 100 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 1/2, press night 6/2 runs to 7/3/20
‘I fell off the stage for the first time – this is really difficult,’ reflects Spall during his standing ovation at the climax of this 2nd preview of an eventful and demanding 100-minute monologue.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Old Vic RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 28/1/20, press night 5/2, runs to 28/3/20
Samuel Beckett’s bleak Endgame is preceded here by the author’s lighter short Rough For Theatre II in an attempt to sugar the pill for fans of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe (pictured above right) who appears here.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Lyttelton Theatre, National RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 18/1/20, press night 22/1, runs to 23/5/20
We’re in rural Suffolk in 1759 where convicted murderer Sally Poppy claims to be pregnant and 12 women must assess whether she is, which would save her from execution.
STOP PRESS: Sonia Friedman Productions has announced that a specially-commissioned film of this production is to be released 27/10/20. Watch the trailer below
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHERE? Harold Pinter Theatre RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 14/1, press night 23/1 runs to 2/5/20
Six years after a brooding Olivier-nominated performance as John Proctor in the Old Vic’s production of The Crucible and Richard Armitage (pictured above in rehearsal) is back on the London stage in Conor McPherson’s re-imagining of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Other Palace RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 27/12, runs to 1/2/20 UPDATE: This productions opens at the Criterion Theatre 20/5/21, booking to 25/9/21 Tickets
We’re a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace and had forgotten that the Paris-set 2001 film on which this musical is based references the death of Princess Diana in that city quite so much.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHERE? Trafalgar Studios RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 15/12 (matinee), runs to 5/1/20
Drag sashayed ever further into the mainstream this year with a triumphant first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on the BBC and now we have this pantomime take-over of a renowned West End stage.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Kiln Theatre RUNTIME: 115 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
WHEN? 14/12, press night 16/12, runs to 25/1/20
Andy waits alone on Christmas Eve in an Oxfordshire village hall hoping the daughter who he has not seen for three years will meet him there.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE? Donmar Warehouse RUNTIME: 100 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 7/12, press night 12/12, runs to 1/2/20
Actor Daniel Monks has hemiplegia and author Mike Lew tailored his script for the British premiere of his reimagining of Shakespeare’s Richard III to modern-day US high school Roseland High.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? Almeida RUNTIME: 175 minutes (including a 15-minute interval)
WHEN? 2/12, press night 10/12, runs to 25/1/20
The Duchess of Malfi is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written in the 17th century by English dramatist John Webster that is unusual for having a female protagonist.
