What a year for theatre 2019 has been! Remembering all of the amazing shows as part of the build-up to the BroadwayWorld UK Awards has been a complete joy, and it is my pleasure to present some thoughts about the shows that have left a distinct impression on my stagey mind.
Pub quiz time, and it's the music round.
It's been a good year for Sharon D Clarke.
In a programme note, Meet Me At Dawn's writer Zinnie Harris explains that the work engages with the life-defining moment in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice when the former looks back and seals his lover's fate to remain in the underworld.
It all started with Richard Gadd offering a lonely woman a cup of tea in a bar.
Janie Dee and Moronke Akinola can currently be seen in The Niceties at the Finborough Theatre, which centres on the conflict between a university history professor and her student - a conflict that spreads from the academic to the personal.
Sir Ian McKellen.
After winning a Stage Debut Award in 2017 for The Country Girls and starring alongside Jennifer Saunders in Lady Windermere's Fan, Grace Molony can now be seen in the London transfer of Laura Wade's The Watsons, which opens tonight at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
At the G7 summit last month, the wives of the world leaders were pictured together by Donald Tusk walking not across a zebra crossing as per The Beatles but through a garden.
Rebekah Murrell made her professional acting debut in Natasha Gordon's award-winning Nine Night, which opened at the National Theatre before transferring to Trafalgar Studios.
Within the first 20 minutes of Lesley Storm's Black Ciffon, Alicia asks a?oeIs there enough gin?a?? Finally, I thought, a character I could get behind.
Known to audiences for her roles in Casualty and Emmerdale, Chelsea Halfpenny has recently taken on the role of Judy Bernly in Dolly Parton's feel-good musical, 9 to 5, replacing Amber Davies.
The simple act of deception that opens Ibsen's A Doll's House never ceases to amaze me.
After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe and a sold-out run at the Arcola at the end of last year, Gbolahan Obisesan's adaptation of Chigozie Obioma's novel The Fishermen is now at the Trafalgar Studios.
Known to audiences as Alfie Moon from EastEnders, Shane Richie recently playing Hugo/Loco Chanelle in the West End's Everybody's Talking About Jamie, and can currently be found touring the UK as Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer.
Following last year's rousing production of Pericles, the National Theatre's Public Acts scheme has returned this summer with As You Like It.
What does a Mr Potato Head have in common with a Zimmer frame? Or a rocking horse with antique lamps? Or an empty crisp packet with a baby's highchair? The answer: all of them and more can be found on Fly Davis's set for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Appropriate,which opens in the living room of a grand
From an English Queen to Argentinian leader, Samantha Pauly has been spending a lot of her time recently performing as famous women from history.
Known for her recent work in The Rink at the Southwark Playhouse and Follies at the National Theatre, Gemma Sutton can currently be found singing the blues at the Kiln Theatre in Blues in the Night.
Known to many as Ronnie Mitchell from East Enders, Samantha Womack has enjoyed a successful career in television, film and theatre.
