
Clockwise from top left: Matt Henry in Kinky Boots, John Heffernan in Oppenheimer, Greg Hicks and Peter Bourke in Clarion, Derren Brown in Miracle and Noma Dumezweni in Linda
After rounding up various publications’ #theatre2015 highlights yesterday, it’s time to reflect on my own year in the stalls (well, mainly in the stalls, occasionally in the dress circle).
I don’t pretend for a minute that these lists are definitive of the theatregoing year overall; they represent only my personal opinions on the shows I’ve managed to see (a little over 130).
There were many more shows I didn’t manage to catch, and am still kicking myself about, due to other commitments, including several that have topped other lists: Farinelli and the King, Four Minutes and Twelve Seconds, Husbands and Sons, Man and Superman, Oresteia, Temple, The Motherfucker with the Hat and People, Places and Things.
Please note, productions on these are listed in alphabetical order, not ranking!
Further down the page, you’ll also find links to other #theatre2015 top picks from some of my colleagues at My Theatre Mates.

Penelope Wilton in Taken at Midnight, Mark Hayhurst’s debut play, which transferred from Chichester to the Haymarket
My Top 10 new plays of 2015
- A Level Playing Field – Jermyn Street
- Bad Jews – St James and Arts
- Clarion – Arcola
- Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage – Out of Joint at the Arcola
- Hangmen – Royal Court and Wyndham’s
- Mr Foote’s Other Leg – Hampstead and Theatre Royal Haymarket
- Oppenheimer – RSC at the Vaudeville
- Rotterdam – Theatre503
- Taken at Midnight – Theatre Royal Haymarket
- The Father – Tricycle and Wyndham’s
My Top 10 play revivals of 2015
- American Buffalo – Wyndham’s
- Barbarians – Tooting Arts Club
- Death of a Salesman – RSC at the Noel Coward
- Henry V – Lazarus at the Union
- Lovesong of the Electric Bear – Hope Theatre and Above the Arts
- Peter Pan – Open Air
- Splendour – Donmar Warehouse
- Tamburlaine – Lazarus at Tristan Bates
- The Absence of War – Headlong at the Rose, Kingston
- To Kill a Mockingbird – Open Air at the Barbican
My Top 10 musicals of 2015
- American Idiot – Arts
- Bend It Like Beckham – Phoenix
- Bugsy Malone – Lyric Hammersmith
- Gypsy – CFT at the Savoy
- Kinky Boots – Adelphi
- Love Birds – Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Open Air
- Showstopper: The Improvised Musical – Apollo
- The Stationmaster – Tristan Bates
- Through the Mill – London Theatre Workshop
My Top 5 theatre events of 2015
- Derren Brown’s miraculous show Miracle, lifting spirits and saving souls at the Palace Theatre
- Hey, Old Friends, the 85th birthday tribute concert to Stephen Sondheim at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
- Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales, the immersive fairytale experience at Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf
- The opening day of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company – with first two (or three, depending on how you count them) offerings The Winter’s Tale and All On Her Own/Harlequinade – at the West End’s Garrick Theatre
- The Vote telecast live from the Donmar Warehouse on election night in final 90 minutes of polling

Johnny Flynn in Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, now transferred from the Royal Court to the West End’s Wyndham’s Thaetre
My Top 15 performances of 2015
- Aaron Sidwell – American Idiot, Arts
- Andrew Scott – The Dazzle, Found 111
- Anna Francolini – wonder.land, National
- Ben Forster – Elf, Dominion
- Bertie Carvel – The Hairy Ape, Old Vic
- Giles Terera – Pure Imagination, St James
- Greg Hicks – Clarion, Arcola
- Imelda Staunton – Gypsy, CFT at the Savoy
- John Heffernan – Oppenheimer, RSC at the Vaudeville
- Johnny Flynn – Hangmen, Royal Court and Wyndham’s
- Noma Dumezweni – Linda, Royal Court
- Philip Bretherton – Tony’s Last Tape, Bridge House
- Steven Wight – McQueen, St James and Haymarket
- Thomas Coombes – Tooting Arts Club’s Barbarians
- Zoe Wanamaker – Stevie, Hampstead
Ones to watch in 2016 and beyond
These are up-and-comers who all caught my attention this past year. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Performers
- Lucy Penrose – seen in Through the Mill at London Theatre Workshop
- Nikki Patel – seen in Future Conditional at the Old Vic
- Jake Davies – seen in Tooting Arts Club’s Barbarians at the former building of the Central Saint Martin’s Art College
- George Knapper – seen in Love Birds at the Edinburgh Fringe
- Liberty Buckland – seen in Yarico at London Theatre Workshop
Writers
- Alex McSweeney – Out of the Cage, Park
- Daniel Dingsdale – Dark Tourism, Park
- Jon Brittain – Rotterdam, Theatre503
- Mark Jagasia – Clarion, Arcola
- Tim Connor (music/lyrics) and Susannah Pearse (book) – The Stationmaster, Tristan Bates
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