As 2018 prepared to shuffle off its mortal coil, I sat musing on the state of the London theatre scene over the past 12 months and found plenty to praise - even with the ever-looming doom and gloom of Brexit and increasing xenophobia (both of which, perhaps unsurprisingly managed to find their way into productions). Much new writing was enjoyed by audiences around the capital, despite the seemingly prohibitive economic realities of producing and staging new work.
Fringe venues still managed to present a dazzling variety of work and the West End continued to draw star names from both sides of the Atlantic, fuelling box office receipts by feeding the public’s insatiable appetite for celebrity. All-in-all, it was business as usual with London maintaining its position as the preeminent performing arts city in the world.
So, among the new productions and revivals, what were the highlights of 2018 for this reviewer? Below is my personal Top 10:
- The Inheritance (Young Vic and Noel Coward Theatre)
- Network (National Theatre)
- Company (Gielgud Theatre)
- Imperium: Conspirator and Dictator (Gielgud Theatre)
- Caroline, or Change (Hampstead Theatre and Playhouse Theatre)
- Summer and Smoke (The Almeida and Duke of York’s Theatre)
- Red (Wyndhams Theatre)
- Nine Night (National Theatre and Trafalgar Studios)
- Distance (Park Theatre)
- Parliament Square (Bush Theatre)
With many new productions already announced with star names certain to put bums on seats, 2019 looks set to be a bumper year for the London theatre scene.
First, new musical SIX took the Edinburgh Festival and the West End by storm, now we hear tracks from the studio cast recording have hit 40,000 streams a day, reaching over 3.5 million in total.