Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
Published on 2 March 2026
A timely arrival at the Arcola is Ukraine Unbroken, a reminder that the war which began four years ago with the invasion by Russia of Ukraine continues against all the odds. Many thought that Ukraine would be overwhelmed within weeks, but that didn’t happen. Charting modern Ukrainian history from 2014 to the present day, it is directed by Nicolas Kent, formerly artistic director of the Tricycle, and includes contributions from major playwrights including David Edgar, David Greig and Natalka Vorozhbit and tells many stories, including of a mother’s search for her child abducted by Russia and a Ukrainian man hiding from conscription. There’s a great cast too, including Daniel Betts and Clare Holman.
Head to the Kiln for Manic Street Creature, an impressive solo musical tour de force with music, lyrics and book by Maimuna Memon. In Manic she plays Ria, a singer-songwriter hitting London for the first time who hooks up with Daniel, beautiful but troubled. I saw the show in Edinburgh back in 2022, and it was great then, and it's been developing ever since, with standing ovations every night when it was at Southwark Playhouse. So don’t miss out on a show which is musically gutsy and brave too in the way it deals with the complexities of mental health and how you cope when the person you love isn’t coping.
Most people know Yentl from the 1983 Barbra Streisand vehicle. But Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story is reimagined for the stage at the Marylebone Theatre in a production which arrives from Australia with rave reviews all round and several awards. It takes the story of the young Jewish woman living in Poland in the late 19th century with a yen for knowledge who disguises herself as a boy in order to study the Torah, which was forbidden to her. But that decision leads to others, and decisions have consequences. By all accounts, the show is wildly theatrical and soaked in Jewish mysticism, which serves it well.
Returning to London in June comes To Kill a Mockingbird, Aaron Sorkin’s sprightly version of Harper Lee’s great novel. Set in Alabama during the Great Depression when both poverty and racism were rife, it gets a very deft production by Bartlett Sher which ensures contemporary resonances while being firmly in period. Lee’s novel is one of the great tales of the rocky journey from innocence to experience, as it tells of how lawyer Atticus Finch defends a Black man accused of raping a white woman and the impact of the case on his daughter, Scout.
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.