Theatre Reviews

The 10 best plays of 2023

As theatre shakes off the long shadow of Covid, it is established regimes like Rupert Goold's that have fared best this year

Hansel und Gretel strikes a balance between slapstick realism and crazy stylization

David Tennant's Macbeth is magnificent, but this production is style over substance

Article thumbnail: Louis McCartney (Henry Creel), Ella Karuna Williams (Patty Newby) - photo by Manuel Harlan Stranger Things: The First Shadow Phoenix Theatre Provided by kate@katemorleypr.com

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a cash cow - but a mesmerising one

London Palladium’s Peter Pan is definitely not for kids

Woody Harrelson is a force of nature - but Ulster American loses the plot

Cold War at the Almeida is exquisite - one of the best plays of the year

Armando Iannucci's Boris Johnson satire Pandemonium isn't funny enough

The Homecoming is unpleasant to watch as a woman

The Wind in the Willows at Shakespeare North Playhouse is charming but not very Christmassy