2024 was another stellar year of theatre as we dished out 20 five-star ratings across the year. Below are my personal five-star reviews – a list that comes to ten in total, conveniently.
The Almeida is the only theatre with more than one production on the list and interestingly, the West End doesn’t feature despite notable productions like Hello Dolly!, Oedpius, Waiting for Godot, A Mirror and The Hills of California all coming close with four stars. More often than not, though, the West End didn’t leave me starstruck as several big openings failed to live up to their promise, even if they were ultimately enjoyable nights out.
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The Steve Coogan-fronted Dr Strangelove, Slave Play with Kit Harrington, Opening Night with Sheridan Smith, A View from the Bridge with Dominic West, Long Day’s Journey into Night with Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson (reviewed for the Irish Post), Ian McKellen in Player Kings, and the much-hyped Romeo & Juliet featuring Tom Holland were all part of this three-star ‘good but could have been so much better’ camp. Big West End musical openings in Hadestown and Standing at the Sky’s Edge found themselves there too.
Off-West End fared better for me this year: outside of my top ten, Paul McGann gutted a fish on stage in The River at Greenwich Theatre, Katie Bird made for a majestic Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at Leeds Playhouse and there was Danny Sapani’s musclebound King Lear in Yaël Farber’s dark and brooding production at the Almeida. At the National there was an intriguing new take on those sibling authors in Underdog: The Other Other Brontë and Michael Sheen was back on stage in Nye. Meanwhile, in Sloane Square, David Byrne’s inaugural season as the Royal Court’s artistic director offered up new writing in Dugsi Dayz, Gunter and more.
And theatre was booming across the country as I took in shows in Leeds, Bath and Chichester and headed to Glastonbury Festival, ALSO Festival and Edinburgh Fringe – with two of this year’s Ed Fringe shows featuring in my top ten.
Admittedly, I didn’t see everything I would have liked to this year (who does?), so I didn’t have the chance to check out Sarah Snook’s masterclass in The Picture of Dorian Gray, the Almeida’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s The Years, John Lithgow as Roald Dahl in Giant at the Royal Court or the Theatre Royal Bath’s production of Machinal. Luckily for me (and you) The Years and Giant both transfer to the West End next year.
The Arts Dispatch’s Top 10 theatre shows of 2024
As selected by Jim Keaveney
1. Faith Healer – Lyric Hammersmith, London
“This is a play, and a production, that will reaffirm your faith in theatre as a storytelling medium. Three people stand on a stage and one by one tell their story – in a period where theatre is full of stagecraft, how powerful it is, how radical, to tell a good story.”
2. The Other Place – National Theatre, London
“Clocking in at just 80 minutes without an interval, Zeldin shows that sometimes less is more – which is good as you might find yourself holding your breath for the duration.”
3. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Almeida Theatre, London
“Frecknell shows that you don’t require the heat of a Memphis Plantation to bring some fire to affairs as she transports events from the 1950s to an undefined modern setting. The action takes place in a silver-tiled box structure that is anxiety-inducing in its empty sheen, matching the vacant expression on Brick’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) liquor-sodden face. Goodbye Southern Gothic, this is a tense and stunning psychological horror.”
4. The Cherry Orchard – Donmar Warehouse, London
“Adeel Akhtar is a devastating force as Yermolai. He is played as an East End-styled, Del Boy come good – but his explosive vitriol in his moment of triumph over the family who owned his ancestors, and over his own family, is terrifying.”
5. Look Back in Anger – Almeida Theatre, London
“Howle’s Jimmy is the ferocious heart of a furious production – all eye twitching, lip licking and hands ticking as he riles himself up in his one-man crusade.”
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6. Bluets – Royal Court Theatre, London
“In a year that has seen stale use of film in theatre with Ivo van Hove’s Opening Night and Jamie Lloyd’s Tom Holland-fronted Romeo & Juliet, Bluet breezes in as a breath of fresh air.”
7. The Deep Blue Sea – Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath
(reviewed for The Times Literary Supplement)
“Terence Rattigan’s study of doomed love speaks to the present as much as it does to the postwar Britain it so perfectly encapsulates.” (note: The TLS does not award star ratings but, if it did, this would have been a five)
8. Òran – Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
“What elevates all of this is Gordon’s masterful delivery – an electric one-man tour de force. He is also tasked with creating the electronic live score at the show’s core, managing to avoid the potential to be pulled out of the moment while programming the music. It is a truly magnetic performance: touching, furious, heart-wrenching, human.”
9. Diva: Live from Hell! – Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh
“Diva: Live from Hell! is devilishly good. There, I said it. And Luke Bayer is devilishly good as Desmond Channing in this perfectly crafted one-man (plus band) musical.”
10. A Christmas Carol – Old Vic, London
“The nights are getting darker, there’s a chill in the air, snow has found its way to London, and somewhere nearby there’s the faint sound of handbells, which can only mean one thing: it’s time for the Old Vic’s annual production of A Christmas Carol.”
Five-star reviews from The Arts Dispatch contributors:
And don’t forget to check out all of the other five-star shows featuring reviews by Carla Rudgyard, Natalie Evans, Katie Shaw, Mark Quinn, Orla Keaveney and Ethan Skillman.
People, Places and Things review – Trafalgar Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Carla Rudgyard)
Shifters review – Bush Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Natalie Evans)
The Lehman Trilogy review – Gillian Lynne Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Katie Shaw)
The Glorious French Revolution review – New Diorama Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Natalie Evans)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Lyric Amphitheatre, Belfast ★★★★★ (Review by Mark Quinn)
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy review – Garrick Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Katie Shaw)
The Pillowman review – Lyric Theatre, Belfast ★★★★★ (Review by Orla Keaveney)
Breeding review – King’s Head Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Ethan Skillman)
The Light House review – Park Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Natalie Evans)
In Clay review – Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London ★★★★★ (Review by Ethan Skillman)
Cowboys & Lesbians review – Park Theatre, London ★★★★★ (Review by Katie Shaw)
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