Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
Published on 12 October 2026
The hit revival of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Sam Ryder takes up residence this week at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. It’s a show which is well worth your time bringing a layered political slant to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical. Matt Bomer will be your Herod until 31st October, but there are some enticing options if you want to choose your own Herod casting, including Michael Ball (23rd November to 5th December), Simon Russell Beale (7th to 12th December) and Layton Williams over Christmas and New Year. Most intriguing is Glenn Close playing the very final week, from 4th to 9th January 2027.
At the Arcola in Dalston, Greg Hicks plays Halvard Solness in Ibsen’s The Master Builder, directed by Mehmet Ergen, whose revival of Enemy of the People was much admired. The unhappily married Solness is a successful architect who has just completed his most recent project when a young woman turns up. Ten years ago, they met when he climbed to the top of a spire he had built in her hometown. What does she want, and will her provocations be the making or the breaking of him?
On the other side of town, just a few steps away from the Brixton tube, Baby – played by former Dr Who companion, Pearl Mackie – is telling her story at Brixton House, the excellent modern theatre which has an excellent upcoming season including Emma Frankland’s Kurt Cobain-inspired No Apologies. Written by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti and produced by Clean Break, a company which has produced a slew of impressive shows and which is a major commissioner of work by contemporary female playwrights, Baby will be telling us about her baby, Bliss, and her own life growing up in a solo about a woman and child which asks questions about resilience and those who slip through the cracks.
Florian Zeller’s The Truth, a slippery, cleverly plotted comedy telling of two couples in which one spouse is cheating, is a reminder that the right casting and right production of a play can give it a new lease of life and turn a miss into a hit. Lindsay Posner directed the British premiere at the Menier in 2016, but it was this year's revival starring Stephen Mangan, Ardal O'Hanlon, Sarah Hadland and Janie Dee which proved a box-office success at the Apollo this summer. Now it gets another West End run with that superlative cast bringing wit, sophistication and marital deception to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in July.
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.