100 Plays!

Post-pandemic, at the start of 2022, recognising that I am never actually going to move to the Home Counties, I resolved that if I lived in London I needed to use it more. I've always been good at exhibitions, but I wanted to do much more live theatre. So I did. I committed myself to going around twice a month, specifically 25 times a year*. Yesterday, I went to the Young Vic for the nuts, but very good, Bengal tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, for #100. It's been superb. Here are some stats.

• 21 musicals, only eight written after I was born
• 25 Shakespeare, half way through a target to see them all
• 6 Pantomimes. We went to two a season in each of 2023 and 2024
• 2 with my own child in. I cannot comment on the quality of either.
• 35 attended alone
• 39 different theatres
• £60 average price, masking a £20 rise between 2022 and 2025

It's changed my life. Here's what I learnt:

• London has loads of theatre on. Twice a month feels like a lot, but I missed plenty.
• Going to the theatre alone is amazing. There is something thrillingly efficient about arriving just in time (ideally by bike), seeing a play, reading a book at the interval, and going straight home.
• I can cycle into pretty much every theatre in central London even if I leave home at 7pm.

Here were my favourites, in the order I saw them:

1. Oklahoma (2022, Young Vic) was a marvel, reimagined and exciting. I even enjoyed the dream ballet. The women - Anoushka Lucas and Marisha Wallace - both outstanding.
2. Night at the Kabuki (2022, Sadler's Wells). 12th century Japanese retelling of Romeo & Juliet and set to Queen’s A Night at the Opera. It was even madder than it sounds and huge huge fun.
3. My neighbour Totoro (2022, Barbican). Everyone loved this. It was charming.
4. The Motive and the Cue (2023, National). Truly mesmerising. Full of cleverness and good on that cultural hinge in the mid century. Absolutely astonishing performance by Mark Gatiss.
5. La Cage aux Folles (2023, Regents Park). I cannot believe I haven't seen this before. It was done exceptionally well.
6. Player Kings (2024, Noel Coward). Possibly Ian McKellan's stage swansong as he injured himself shortly after. I have never heard Shakespeare sound so natural before or since.
7. Fiddler on the Roof (2024, Regent's Park). The structure of this is always lopsided, but this made it work. To Life (L'Chaim) done like a whirlwind; Anatevka with enough lightness to make it heartbreaking. I felt very smug when it transferred to the Barbican.
8. Macbeth (2024, Pinter). David Tennant's Macbeth was superb; what I thought would be a gimmick of giving everyone headphones enabled a range and immediacy that amplified the impact.
9. Midsummer Night's Dream (2025, Barbican). I booked this because it had Mat Baynton in, who does the best Horrible History songs. He delivered a great Bottom, and the final playlet scene was distilled, perfect, pantomime, and the funniest Shakespeare I have ever seen.
10. Much Ado about Nothing (2025, Drury Lane). However much fun I had watching this (and I had a lot of fun), it was less fun than Tom Hiddleston had performing it.
11. The years (2025, Pinter). Powerfully done, very well staged, and fascinating. Extra points for surmounting the tedious audience fainting
12. The Producers (2025, Garrick). I loved this so much that I went home to watch the original film again.

* The exact rubric took a bit of working out, but I decided it was scripted performances, thus stand-up comedy is out (Andy Zaltzman), as are lectures (David Suchet, Christopher de Hamel), but one man shows are in (on Buffy, Life under Mugabe). The line is fuzzy.