Sitting In The Cheap Seats

For some Christmas begins when they leave the office for the last time before the holidays. For others it’s the moment the Coca-Cola advert starts running on the TV. For me Christmas begins with a Chichester Festival Youth Theatre production. This is my third and every year I’m blown away by the talent and professionalism on display.

It’s that time of year again, when critics, theatre writers and bloggers all put together their lists of the shows that have most impressed them this year, so after a great deal of thought here are our top 10 productions (that we reviewed) of 2015!

The BFG is perhaps the most beloved of Roald Dahl’s brilliantly twisted stories for children (though theatre fans may have fallen for Matilda in recent years). It’s certainly one that people keep coming back to as the forthcoming movie adaptation (starring Mark Rylance – which excites us a great deal) will attest. I’m fascinated to see how Humdrum bring such a big story into the confines of The Spring’s cosy studio theatre.

‘ It’s not been a good end to the year for me… I returned from a much needed holiday in September with a torn hamstring that made sitting in one place for any length of time agony. It started to heal and I re-tore it. Just when I’m back to fighting fitness I manage to go and contract pneumonia! So, 2015 is not ending the way I had hoped and I’m missing out on a lot of good theatre (as is MyTheatreMates co-founder Mark Shenton who wrote about his own injury here ). That said, being laid up on the sofa has allowed me to keep my head above water with the volume of theatre news emerging lately, so I thought this would be a good time to start my new weekly round-up of what is happening in the West End and beyond…