As the curtain falls on 2025, critics from The Guardian have compiled their definitive lists of the year's most outstanding productions across theatre, comedy, and dance. From a record-breaking Broadway transfer to a career-defining stand-up hour and an eccentric dance duo featuring a Trump-faced pantomime horse, the UK's stages have been alive with innovation and talent.
Theatre Highlights: From Studio Drama to Climate Rom-Com
The top theatrical spot was claimed by David Adjmi's "Stereophonic", a play about the agonising creation of a 1970s rock album. After receiving a record-breaking 13 Tony Award nominations on Broadway, its London run at the Duke of York's theatre featured a meticulously constructed on-stage recording studio. The production was praised for its profound, funny, and vivid portrait of musician-couples, with original songs by Will Butler of Arcade Fire described as "a hurricane of pure, skinless emotion".
In second place, the charismatic tragicomedy "Return to Palestine" by Jenin's Freedom Theatre made a potent impact at London's Theatro Technis. Using physical theatre, clowning, and oud music on a tiny strip of cloth, six performers brought collected Palestinian stories to searing life.
Celebrity casting proved a triumph in Jamie Lloyd's modern "Much Ado About Nothing" at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, starring Hayley Atwell and Tom Hiddleston. The confetti-filled, disco-lit production was noted for its riotous wedding energy and palpable chemistry. Meanwhile, the Edinburgh Fringe musical "Hot Mess", a climate disaster rom-com described as a "meet-cute between Humanity and Earth", impressed with its humour and remarkable performances by Danielle Steers and Tobias Turley.
Other notable entries included a freshly harrowing touring production of George Orwell's "Animal Farm", notable for its potent use of British Sign Language, and Ava Pickett's award-winning debut "1536" at the Almeida, a play about Tudor-era women in rural Essex, set for a West End run from May.
Comedy Crown: Neurosis, Stroke and a Show Pony
The comedy category was topped by Nick Mohammed, aka Mr Swallow, with his show "Show Pony". In a year that also saw him on "The Celebrity Traitors", Mohammed delivered what was hailed as a career-best stand-up set, intriguingly blending his bumptious alter ego with more personal revelation, satirising identity-obsessed culture in the process.
New Yorker Cat Cohen took second place with "Broad Strokes", a whip-smart cabaret-comedy that playfully addressed her experience of having a stroke at age 30, deliberately subverting expectations of "trauma comedy". Third place went to US star John Early for "The Album Tour" at Soho Theatre Walthamstow, a millennial solipsism variety night featuring pop covers and character work.
The Edinburgh Comedy Award winner was Sam Nicoresti with "Baby Doomer", a big-hitting hour of jokes on gender transition and farcical retail encounters. The Best Newcomer Award at the fringe went to Ayoade Bamgboye for "Swings and Roundabouts", a bright and surprising tale of cultural crossover.
Dance Triumphs: Eccentricity, Mods and Flamenco
In dance, the number one spot was awarded to the utterly unique duo Thick & Tight (Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry) for "Natural Behaviour". Their sketch-format show mixed satire, silliness, lip-syncing, and divine dancing with community warmth, culminating in the unforgettable image of the pair dressed as an orange pantomime horse with Donald Trump's face emerging from its rear.
The serious theme of ecological crisis was tackled masterfully by choreographer Crystal Pite in "Figures in Extinction", a collaboration with Simon McBurney. The Royal Ballet impressed with its "Perspectives" triple bill, featuring Cathy Marston's world premiere "Against the Tide" and the company's first work by American Justin Peck.
French collective (La)Horde's collaboration with Rambert, "We Should Have Never Walked on the Moon", created a buzzy, bleak takeover of the entire Southbank Centre with 80 performers. Meanwhile, "Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet", powered by an orchestral version of The Who's album and Paul Smith suits, successfully channelled the frustration of youth, led by dancer Paris Fitzpatrick.
The year also saw a hip-hop "Ebony Scrooge" from ZooNation, the atmospheric swells of Akram Khan's "Thikra", and the passionate, vulnerable all-male flamenco of Manuel Liñán's "Muerta de Amor".
With productions ranging from Chichester to the West End, and from the Edinburgh Fringe to London's major institutions, 2025 has demonstrated the continued vitality and daring creativity of the UK's performing arts scene.
