2015 Theatre Preview: Gary Naylor's Picks

The extraordinary range of theatre in London continues to provide opportunities to professionals and bolster London's crucial tourist economy. By any metric one chooses, London theatre matters - it's almost a bonus that it continues to excel artistically. We should never take for granted this vast interlinking enterprise of venues, management and talent that somehow survives sometimes on little more than optimism. The show, however, does go on and here's what I'm looking forward to in 2015.

After four years as resident company, OperaUpClose forsake their Islington home and strike out for pastures new. Such a move is typically bold and promises to inject another burst of energy into their work, never lacking in imagination and ambition. Though they have taken their productions on the road before, it will be fascinating to see how they bring opera to a new range of venues - and, excitingly, to a new range of audiences.

With the sopranos and tenors vacating Upper Street, the King's Head Theatre will be able to pursue a broader programme and will continue to find a mix of new work, revivals and classics to pack its 100 or so seats. This venue is one of the best examples of the power of theatre performed at little more than arm's length away - to be able to see the whites of actors' eyes is as thrilling as ever for us punters.

Another favourite of mine is the equally intimate Union Theatre. Sasha Regan runs this black box under the arches with an eye for forgotten musicals performed by a combination of her regulars and graduates fresh out of theatre school. It's a friendly venue with a lovely bar tucked away at the back - and it never fails to provide great entertainment.

I like that word - entertainment. It's a flexible concept that can stretch to cover the intellectual chewiness of Ibsen and Chekhov, and the old-fashioned music hall of panto and revue. At one end of that spectrum, the likes of Southwark Playhouse tackles "issues" with its contemporary productions, not afraid to make us laugh, but wanting to make us think too, as theatre has done since its origins in classical times. At the other end of what "entertainment" can provide, the glitz and glamour of big touring musicals can still fill thousands of seats at New Wimbledon Theatre, my local venue with its loyal patrons and mass appeal shows.

But what, after over 500 reviews here, I look forward to most in 2015, is the skip of the heart when you really see something special that jumps up and surprises you. Some of the best nights of 2014 (as in previous years) came when I sat in my (usually slightly uncomfortable seat), recognised no names in the cast (printed in a rough and ready "programme"), knew nothing about the show and just waited for the magic to unfold. By all means see what catches your eye, but try to see something that doesn't too - because it might just capture your heart.

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