Natalie O'Donoghue's Most Anticipated Theatre of 2020

It's only the second week on January but 2020 already looks to be a very busy year of theatre! I'm looking forward to everything I have booked in, but these are the ones I'm particularly excited about:

The Oor Wullie musical runs at Glasgow's Theatre Royal from the 20th January to 28th January and Edinburgh's King's Theatre from the 28th January until the 1st of February. Based on the much-loved comic strip and featuring music from Noisemaker the production received rave reviews when it opened at Dundee Rep.

In March I'm heading down to Manchester Opera House to see Back to the Future the Musical which opens on the 20th of February. Based on the 1985 movie and with music from Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, Back to the Future features an all new score alongside iconic hits.

Mouthpiece comes to the Tron Theatre in Glasgow from the 27th-29th of February. This production was one of the highlights of my Edinburgh festival 2019 and I'm super excited to see it again. The Tron is also staging Underwood Lane in July- a new John Byrne musical play which promises to be a very special production for all lovers of Scottish theatre.

Patrick Ness' book A Monster Calls is being brought to life by Sally Cookson at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh in April. Suitable for age 10+ A Monster Calls offers a dazzling insight into love, life and healing.

Lung Ha Theatre Company are bringing Castle Lennox to Edinburgh's Lyceum Theatre in May. Based on a real institution, it is a play about a young girl with autism who is incarcerated in this home for the 'feeble minded' and documents the strength and resilience of those who were sent to Castle Lennox during a regime of segregation from the 1930s to the 1990s.

From The National Theatre of Scotland The Enemy tours in April and May. A radical re-imagining of the classic Henrik Ibsen play about truth, power and deception by award-winning playwright Kieran Hurley. It makes me feel a wee bit sick to be thinking ahead to the 2020 Edinburgh Festival Fringe but Who Killed Katie? has managed to get me excited about August already. Written by Rob Drummond and directed by Orla O'Loughlin, Who Killed Katie? probes our enduring obsession with true crime and uses using reconstruction, court transcripts, witness statements and interviews to find out what really happened.

My must see London shows opening this year are Pretty Woman which opens at the Piccadilly Theatre in February; City of Angels opening at the Garrick in March; Frozen opening at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in October and The Drifters Girl opening at the Garrick in October as well.

There's a whole host of exciting firsts at the Edinburgh Playhouse in 2020. They're staging the first Scottish dates for Book of Mormon in June, Heathers in July and Strictly Ballroom and Dreamgirls in November.

Broadway's Bring It On comes to Glasgow's King's Theatre in September and Edinburgh's Festival Theatre in November. Loosely based on the film of the same name the musical focuses on the competitive world of cheerleading and features music from Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

What shows are you looking forward in 2020? Tweet us @BWWScotland and let us know!

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

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