2022 Year in Review: Aliya Al-Hassan's Best of 2022

2022 started with the UK fighting with Covid's Omicron variant, which was not really conducive to much theatrical mingling. It is fair to say that this has not been a vintage year of theatre. However, much of the theatre world rallied, as it always does, to bring us some juicy shows and sparkling performances.

Despite the cost of living crisis and strikes whereever you look, the fact that 2022 ends with many theatres packed to the rafters with audiences enjoying pantomimes and festive shows is a most cheering thought. However, 2023 is looking more than a little grim and all venues will need our support more than ever going into next year, however big or small.

In 2022, I cried at the Royal Court's For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, was throughly entertained by the Young Vic's Oklahoma! and was utterly charmed by My Neighbour Totoro.

As well as some stunning West End performances, it is really heartening to see that regional theatres have been blessed with some standout touring shows. Here is a small selection of some my favourites.

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1. Prima Facie, Harold Pinter Theatre

There were heightened levels of hysteria in April at the arrival of Prima Facie, heralding Jodie Comer's stage debut. The production was a well-deserved sell-out, is being show on National Theatre Live and is opening on Broadway in 2023.

Comer lived up to the hype; a natural on stage and truly captivating in this one-woman play about Tessa, a lawyer who specialises in defending men accused of sexual assault, until she is assaulted herself and realises the realities of shortcomings of the law and its attitudes towards victims of sexual assault.

Energetically directed by Justin Martin and with a banging soundtrack by Self Esteem, Comer handled Suzie Miller's gnarly script with aplomb, even as it descended slightly into feeling like a lecture towards the end.

2. Small Island, National Theatre

Small Island returned to The National Theatre after being streamed during lockdown. An epic in both story and scale, Andrea Levy's tale of race, friendship and betrayal set among the Windrush generation made an exultant return to the Olivier's stage, feeling more timely than ever.

With a generally excellent cast, I thought Mirren Mack was a standout as Queenie; sensible and pragmatic, her innate vitality being gradually extinguished by her situation. The production shows how thought-provoking theatre can be, retaining the story's urgency, humanity and power to educate.

3. House Of Ife, Bush Theatre

I loved Beru Tessema's new play House Of Ife; a tense and fascinating insight into the dynamics of a British-Ethiopean family, living in London, and navigating life and personal grief in the wake of the sudden death of the family's eldest son, Ife.

This magnetic cast of five had brilliant chemistry. Karla-Simone Spence was captivating as Aida, visibly disturbed by her brother's absence. Yohanna Ephrem was the quiet and sensible middle daughter Tsion and Michael Workeye was a slouching and seemingly directionless Yosi. Workeye was not only very funny in the role, but nimbly showed flashes of real pain and frustration at the chaos of his brother's demise and father's cruel actions to deal with it. This was a quietly engrossing production.

4. Animal Farm, Touring

Toby Olié's gorgeously detailed puppets, that came to fame through his work on War Horse, carried this beautiful production of Animal Farm. The brutish pigs, gruff Napoleon, lisping Snowball and master of propaganda Squealer, had mean, superior faces. Boxer, the kindly horse, was huge and imposing, and Bluebell, the panting Old English Sheepdog, was so realistic it took a moment to realise it was a puppet.

Bunny Christie's sparse and dark set captured the shadowy nature of the story, letting the puppets be the focus. Tom Gibbons' sound design used a thumping base and included thoughtfully-chosen snippets of classical music. Together, with Jon Clark's intelligent lighting design, this was a visually immersive production.

As a warning against communism, this was a rather unique production that entertained, shocked and really made you think.

5. Pennyroyal, Finborough Theatre

The diminutive Finborough Theatre struck gold with Lucy Roslyn's powerful new play Pennyroyal. Developed by Roslyn over lockdown, it followed the evolving relationship between sisters Daphne and Christine after Daphne is suddenly unable to conceive and Christine decides to donate her eggs to help.

The play was a captivating two-hander; writer Roslyn also starring as Christine; sardonic, clever and with hidden depths, Roslyn was fantastically convincing in the role. Madison Clare, as younger sister Daphne, was equally good in showing the evolving emotional turmoil of a young girl who is changed forever by a medical diagnosis.

Deftly directed by Josh Roche, the intensely intimate play almost felt awkward at points, but that was often the point.

6. Noises Off, Touring

In an incredibly fun piece of polished stagecraft, Felicity Kendal was an inevitable draw as fading star Dotty Otley, but was well supported by a vibrant cast, featuring a standout turn from Joseph Millson, as the bombastic lead actor Garry Lejeune. Tracy-Ann Oberman, Matthew Kelly and Jonathan Coy joined the madness in this masterful skewering of the theatrical world.

Lindsay Posner returned to the play after the excellent 2011 production at The Old Vic. This touring production of Noises Off was chaotic, frantic, but also left space for you to feel sympathy for the characters themselves. Farce should look effortless, but it is one of the hardest genres to pull off convincingly: Posner directed with a precise and meticulous eye for detail, but also allowed the characters to feel human. It was also incredibly funny.

The show received a well-deserved West End transfer and will play The Phoenix Theatre from 19 January to 11 March 2023.

7. The Solid Life of Sugar Water, Orange Tree Theatre

There are times when a theatre production hits you with such raw, uncomfortable truth that it stays with you long after you leave the venue. The Solid Life Of Sugar Water was not an easy watch: graphic, messy and embarassing in content, with nowhere to hide.

Directed by winner of the 2022 JMK Award, Indiana Lown-Collins, and written by Jack Thorne, the play was a lesson in effortless inclusivity, featuring deaf actor Katie Erich, who played Alice. She was joined by disabled actor Adam Fenton as Phil; a couple trying to navigate life together after the death of their daughter.

Some of Thorne's detail was excruciating; a scene where Phil graphically played out a sexual encounter, while Alice enacted giving birth to a child she knew was already dead hit you hard in the stomach. The mention of blood on the car seat, the fact that Phil did not change the sheets before Alice came home; these things were devastating in their quotidian quality.

8. SPIKE, Touring

I am so pleased that much of the country got a chance to see this funny, sharp and moving show. Ian Hislop and Nick Newman beautifully balanced pathos with comedy in SPIKE, based on letters between Spike Milligan and his BBC executives. This was an affectionate and beautifully staged portrait of the often-troubled mind of this comedy genius.

The cast was pitch-perfect. Robert Wilfort struck a sympathetic and beautiful balance between awkward romantic, traumatised ex-soldier and passionate writer as Spike Milligan. Patrick Warner was excellent as the egotistical Peter Sellers, accompanied by a very affable Jeremy Lloyd as Harry Secombe. None of the trio were trying to impersonate the men; they showed the spirit of the people, rather than trying to copy them.

Hislop and Newman's script was very sharp and often incredibly funny, but it was Paul Hart's direction that kept up the almost perfect pace and momentum of the show.

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As we say goodbye to 2022, here's to every performer, producer, backstage worker and venue; you all deserve a medal for coming through this year in one piece. Thank you!

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