The best UK theatre to see in August 2022
From the Billy Elliot revival to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, we round up this month’s must-sees.
By Will Stroude
Words: Simon Button
Billy Elliot
Jaden Shentall-Lee as Billy and Prem Masani as Michael in Billy Elliot (Photo: Marc Brenner)
Reviewers have been raving about this revival of the Elton John musical about a miner’s son who dares to dream about a career in ballet, so a West End transfer seems inevitabl
e. For now you can catch it at the Curve in Leicester, where you can expect a heartwarming, tearjerking night out in a show that also marks the welcome return to the stage of Luke Baker (so good as the original Dean Paxton in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) as Billy’s brother Tony.
Curve, Leicester, until 20 August. For tickets click here.
Chess/Kinky Boots/Treason
Lola’s back! Kinky Boots’ ferociously funny drag queen gets to strut her stuff again in a concert version of the Harvey Fierstein/Cyndi Lauper show, with Cedric Neal starring alongside Joel Harper-Jackson and Courtney Bowman at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on August 8 and 9. Also being staged as concerts at the iconic venue are Chess on August 1 and new musical Treason, about the gunpowder plot with Carrie Hope Fletcher heading the cast, on August 22.
For tickets click here.
Identical
New musicals are rare these days and this one sounds like a lot of fun. Based on the book ‘The Parent Trap’ and directed by the venerable Trevor Nunn, it’s about twin girls separated at birth who meet by chance at summer camp at age ten and decide to switch places. The fact the music and lyrics are by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who beefed up the score for Mary Poppins, is an extra draw.
Nottingham Playhouse until 14 August, then The Lowry in Salford from 19 August to 3 September. For tickets click here.
Wonderville: Magic & Cabaret
The West End gets a brand new venue for this fusion of magic acts and cabaret turns in a purpose-built, intimate setting where the Wonderville theme spills out into the bar and lobby.
The roster of hosts, including Chastity Belt and Mysti Vine, will introduce what creative director Laura Corcoran (aka Frisky of Frisky & Mannish) promises will be “the weirdest, wildest, most wonderful acts of the variety scene”.
From 9 August. For tickets click here.
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
Chris Jared as Aslan and Samantha Womack as the White Witch in The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (Photo: Brinkhoff Moegenburg)
After touring the UK and Ireland, the stage version of the beloved C.S. Lewis classic takes over from Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre with Samantha Womack starring as the White Witch.
The tale may be a familiar one – a quartet of young adventurers step through a magical wardrobe into the enchanted land of Narnia – that’s been told many times but the staging is all by accounts out of this world.
Gillian Lynne Theatre until 8 January. For tickets click here.