The Best UK Theatre to see in February 2023
From a queer makeover of Hedda Gabler to the return of a radical Oklahoma!, Simon Button rounds up this month’s must-sees.
By Simon Button
Linck & Mülhahn
Ruby Thomas’s intriguing-sounding play gets its premiere at the Hampstead Theatre with Maggie Bain and Helena Wilson in the leads. Based on a true story about an 18th-century gender pioneer, it is set in Prussia where the titular characters – a woman who lives as a man and their bride – are keeping a secret that threatens to destroy their lives.
Linck & Mülhahn plays at the Hampstead Theatre until 4 March. Get tickets here.
Live to Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical
With the Material Girl heading back to the concert stage to finally celebrate her legacy with a greatest hits tour, Brian Mullin pitches the concept of a Madonna jukebox musical in a self-penned and self-inspired play. Living in a disabled body and living with HIV, superfan Brian aims to put on a show featuring many of those hits whilst seeking to reinvent himself, just as his idol has done over and over again.
Live to Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical plays at the Omnibus Theatre from 7 to 18 February and at Camden People’s Theatre from 4 to 15 April. Get tickets here and here.
Bat Out Of Hell
Musicals don’t come much bigger, brasher or more enjoyably bombastic than this one. Inspired by Meat Loaf’s seminal ‘Bat Out of Hell’ album and its two sequels, it’s a full-throttle extravaganza with a negligible plot (something to do with tearaway teens in a dystopic wasteland), eye-popping pyrotechnics, real motorbikes on stage and all those subtle-as-a-sledgehammer songs.
Bat Out Of Hell plays at the Peacock Theatre from 17 February to April 1. Get tickets here.
Hedda Gabler
Chronicles of Narnia star Anna Popplewell makes her theatrical debut in a queer reimagining of the Ibsen classic, with a script by Harriet Madeley and direction by Annie Kershaw. It’s a version, we’re told, that is “steeped in queer rage and suburban monotony” as it explores how Hedda is trapped in a life that’s been chosen for her.
Hedda Gabler plays at the Reading Rep Theatre from 23 February to 11 March. Get tickets here.
Oklahoma!
Reinterpretations don’t come much more radical than Daniel Fish’s reframing of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical as an in-the-round, in-your-face production which played out at the Young Vic last year in glaringly bright light and the occasional unnerving blackout. It’ll be interesting to see how, or indeed if, it fits into a more conventional theatrical space.
Oklahoma! plays at the Wyndham’s Theatre from 23 February. Get tickets here.
Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of)
Having bagged the Olivier Award for Best Comedy during its West End run, the laugh-out-loud retelling of Jane Austen’s evergreen story makes its way around the country. The female-centric cast let rip in a blaze of bodice-ripping, lust, and longing, set to a pop soundtrack that includes ‘You’re So Vain’ and ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ as they pay irreverent tribute to the beloved book.
Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of) is touring until 24 June. Get tickets here.