Katie Kirkpatrick

Gunter is a messy play. Literally. There’s sand, dirt, blood, confetti, and ink all over the actors and the floor. Fringe company Dirty Hare throw absolutely everything at their canvas, in a piece that includes music to projections to microphones, shadow puppetry, and masks. In this rare gem of a show, however, it all sticks. Usually, when critics refer to a show as ‘messy’, it’s a bad thing. When I call Gunter messy, I mean it with the utmost praise. 

'Why do you want to be a parent?' This expansive, almost unanswerable question is one of many asked to gay couple Zeb and Eoin when they decide they want to adopt. In Breeding, writer Barry McStay unpacks the ‘new normal’ of queer parenthood in a crowd-pleasing narrative that doesn’t shy away from the darker moments.

To say Cable Street has been highly anticipated would be a gross understatement: it’s basically unheard of for a new, Off West End musical to completely sell out its run before a single review has been published. Nevertheless, this little show that could is absolutely deserving of its success, and seems to be destined for great things.

In its basic premise and form, Hir is a very traditional piece of theatre. It follows a typical two-act structure and the whole play takes place in one room with the same four characters. Within this familiar form, however, Mac wreaks havoc on the notion of the nuclear family, exploring what takes place in a family unit without a patriarch.

The Beautiful Future is Coming is a play that’s at once expansive and intimate. In the hidden little underground space of Jermyn Street Theatre, the cast of four lead us on a journey from the past to the future, in a story made up of three separate but connected narratives.

Exhibitionists is, regrettably, not a good play. That’s not to say, however, that it isn’t occasionally a lot of fun. Teetering on the edge of pure camp and exaggerated satire, this bewildering new comedy puts a gay and non-monogamous spin on the classic farce, as fiery exes come face to face at an art gallery.

I’ve often described the kind of work the Hampstead Downstairs produces as ‘academic’ - This Much I Know takes this a step further by transforming the stage into a lecture theatre. Framed through a college lecture, Eureka Day playwright Jonathan Spector’s play spans multiple continents and multiple centuries in search of an answer to its central question: are we responsible for the things that we cause by accident?

2023 has been a big year for theatre. It’s easy to say that every year, but in the past twelve months we have seen a real shakeup of artistic directors, as well as a whole series of new smash hits, from revivals to new musicals to cutting-edge plays. With the pandemic era of closed buildings and Zoom plays fading into memory, theatre is well and truly back and thriving.

There are nine countries in the world with nuclear weapons. And at any second, any one of them could press a button that would put an immediate and catastrophic end to life as we know it. Armed with just a laptop, a projector, a kettle, and some biscuits, Fringe veteran Chris Thorpe faces this reality head-on, and takes us along for the ride.

A solo show that knows what it’s doing, it’s no wonder Feeling Afraid went down so well at the Edinburgh Fringe. Dos Santos’ script takes us in and out of a stand-up set as The Comedian (Samuel Barnett) walks us through his dating mishaps, family relationships, career woes, and thoughts about death.

From the moment the lights go up, Lizzie is a full throttle onslaught of female rage. There's heavy guitars, some serious belting, strobing lights, and plenty of fake blood. Unfortunately, though, the storytelling feels disjointed - it’s not always easy to figure out what exactly is going on, as more and more plot points are loosely alluded to or presented as already known. 

Ghosts of the Near Future is a show about the end of the world, about death, about Las Vegas, about pet cats, and about disappearing. It’s a show about magic acts, and it is one in itself. Performance duo emma + pj turn the Barbican’s Pit Theatre into a post-nuclear Nevada desert, a faded postcard of America. On this stage, the pair tell the story of a magician travelling to Las Vegas, before the show expands into an abstract exploration of both global apocalypse, and the everyday tragedies we experience as little apocalypses of their own. 

Trompe L’Oeil is a French phrase meaning trick of the eye, or optical illusion. Coincidentally, when said out loud it sounds rather a lot like ‘Trump loyal’. Most people who notice this similarity would likely shrug it off and move on with their day. Henry Parkman Biggs, however, decided it would be the perfect title for a musical bewilderingly combining a satire of Trump’s presidency with visuals of Surrealist art, and also, according to the show description, a queer love story. 

Body Show is an apocalyptic, gender-bending, drag-infused spectacular tackling dysphoria and eating disorders head-on. Fresh from their hit Fringe run, individual performance artists Frankie Thompson (Catts) and Liv Ello (Swarm) bring their collaborative show to London, presenting something both thought-provoking and a whole lot of fun.

Octopolis is an intimate two-hander that initially feels small-scale but reveals itself to be about vastly expansive ideas - essentially about the very concept of humanity. Marek Horn’s writing is probing and incisive, shifting from extended paragraphs of anthropological theory to funny innuendo and dramatic arguments.

The US police force perhaps isn’t the most obvious subject for a comedy musical, but Police Cops: The Musical turns an unlikely premise into a undeniable hit. Fresh from a hit run at the Edinburgh Fringe, this slick satire of the US eighties is enjoying yet more success in London. From the minds of trio Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson and Tom Roe comes a full-throttle ride through the cliches of American action movies.

The world is going to end in 80 years and two couples are deciding whether it’s still a good idea to have children. And then one of the women falls for the other couple’s surrogate. Certain Death and Other Considerations has a stand-out premise, exploring the very real issue of eco-anxiety through a fun, apocalypse romantic drama. The execution of this premise, however, falls a little short.

As the show begins, Brendan is breathing his last breath. Boom, goes his heart beat, boom, goes the rushing blood. The following hour of theatre explains how he got to this point, and how his life became intertwined with that of Fran. Fran, whose story is told in parallel, begins having a bad day at work, which quickly goes from bad to worse. Alongside all this, an onstage DJ plays ambient beats that shift with the story.

Have you ever left your bag on the bus? What about leaving your passport at the airport? As the show fully begins, Pip highlights the relatability of ADHD struggles - as she points out, the symptoms are present in everyone, it’s just only some people that experience them to a level that significantly impacts their daily lives.

Cowboys and Lesbians, quite simply, does what it says on the tin. But it does so in a fiercely funny, heartwarming way that leaves you walking out with a big smile on your face. The show opens with two teenage girls, Noa and Nina, waiting for the school bus. They’re lovably awkward school nerds, imagining how their lives might look if they were in a cliche film. We are then transported to the film they are making up.