Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
Published on 8 June 2026
Hot Mess at the Other Palace transferred straight from Edinburgh last year to Southwark Playhouse. Now it returns, and it’s no surprise because Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote, the team behind the much-acclaimed 42 Balloons, have created a musical two-hander which is both ingenious and witty. The premise is this: when Earth, on the rebound from her relationship with Tyrannosaurus Rex, which ended badly, and Hu (short for humanity) get together, they are a real power couple. But as Hu starts to exploit the natural resources which Earth shows him, the relationship looks increasingly doomed. It’s a clever device to explore climate change, and it’s done with a light touch. Lots of fun.
Stephen Mangan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Sarah Hadland and Janie Dee star in The Truth (Apollo), a play which asks how much truth-telling any marriage can really bear. It’s witty and sophisticated stuff and stylishly written by French playwright Florian Zeller, best known for The Father, which was turned into a movie with Anthony Hopkins. It is a deviously plotted comedy telling of two couples, one of whom from each pair is cheating with the other’s spouse. If director Lindsay Posner does it justice, it’s an evening which doesn’t stint on the self-deceptions and sleights of mind that we all employ in our relationships when it suits us.
London has, of course, recently seen a sizzling Much Ado About Nothing in Jamie Lloyd’s revival with Hayley Atwell and Tom Hiddleston. But it is a joyous play, mixing melodrama with high-jinks comedy, and one well-suited to the delights of Shakespeare’s Globe in summer. Also, it’s directed by Chelsea Walker, who always brings unexpected insights to classic texts. Pippa Nixon and Ken Nwosu play Beatrice and Benedick, the couple whose verbal sparring suggests antipathy but masks a deep love. Will they or won’t they get together? Even if you know the answer, the journey is often fulfilling.
Relocating Bizet’s opera, Carmen, from a 19th-century cigarette factory in Spain to a garage and diner in early 1960s small-town America is the USP of The Car Man (Sadlers Wells), Matthew Bourne’s dance drama subtitled “an auto-erotic thriller". Bourne revs up Bizet’s well-known melodies in a jazzy evening which upends gender expectations to tell a story of sex, jealousy, murder, betrayal and revenge. Strap in for the ride.
By Lyn Gardner
Lyn Gardner is an acclaimed theatre journalist and former critic with decades of experience covering British theatre, from off-West End and fringe theatre to major West End productions.