Lyn Gardner's Weekly Picks
Published on 11 May 2026
Head over to the Menier for Equus, Peter Shaffer’s undeniably entertaining and powerful story—inspired by a real-life case—about a boy who deliberately blinds the horses he has been lovingly caring for. Shaffer’s great trick is to turn the tale into a situation that sets up a dramatic conflict between the boy, a teenager of wild passions, and the psychiatrist employed to assess and treat him, a lonely man whose life has dried up and lost all meaning. Is a life without belief inevitably a barren one? Who should we pity or envy the most? The boy or the man charged with curing him. The play can easily tip into melodrama, but get it right and it’s completely gripping.
The great thing about Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband (Lyric Hammersmith) is that it always feels as if it has something to say about our political class and the way they behave. Previous productions have come with echoes of contemporary corruption scandals, including the MP’s expenses scandal. Nicholai La Barrie’s revival, which comes with a top-notch cast of colour, should make Wilde’s play feel very current as it tells the story of Sir Robert Chiltern, a man of unimpeachable reputation who is found to have committed a major indiscretion in his youth. Who is best placed to judge whether that is complete hypocrisy or a crime in need of forgiveness?
Long before the West End caught onto the idea of rotating celebrity casting of the kind we are seeing with the role of King Herod in the upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, the small but enterprising Park Theatre was ahead of the game. Artistic director Jez Bond has long had success in getting star names to make guest appearances in its annual fundraising comedy Whodunnit (Unrehearsed) 4. This year you can catch some very starry actors, including Anne-Marie Duff, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Meera Syal, Jodie Whittaker and more, who will be playing the Sheriff in the lawless town of Graveside in a show in which they perform the script sight unseen before stepping on stage.
The Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, has had huge success with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, which settles into the Palladium this summer, but back at home base it is another Lloyd Webber musical which is being revived. Cats, the composer’s collaboration with T.S. Eliot—whose poems from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats provide the inspiration—gets a makeover from choreographer and director Drew McOnie. Forget the horror that was the movie and see these pussies once more in all their full-throated feline glory.
By Lyn Gardner
Lyn Gardner is an acclaimed theatre journalist and former critic with decades of experience covering British theatre, from off-West End and fringe theatre to major West End productions.