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2006: the Theatrical Year in London (Other Theatres)Dateline: 27th December, 2006The great strength of London is that good productions of both new and old plays take place all around the capital and way beyond the ambit of the West End. After ten years at the helm, the wonderfully larger-than-life Mike Bradwell announced that this was to be his last year at the Bush. He will be sorely missed after a year with greater variety than has sometimes been the case at the theatre above a pub in Shepherd's Bush. The highlight for this reviewer was Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Qur'an, a lovely story by Erich-Emmanuel Schmidt about a relationship that builds between a Jewish boy and an Arab shopkeeper in Paris. It starred Ryan Sampson who might well be many people's pick as the best new performer this year. He did though have strong competition from Matti Houghton in Franz Xaver Kroetz' terrifying Stallerhof at Southwark Playhouse. She bared her soul as an abused teenager in a scintillating performance that surely bodes well for a long and distinguished acting career. The Bush also welcomed much new work including Chloe Moss' Mancunian coming of age drama, Christmas is Miles Away, Catherine Trieschmann's Crooked about American teen misfits and, currently, Steve Thompson's political comedy Whipping it Up with its tremendous performance from Richard Wilson. In recent years, Hampstead has seen hits but very many more misses. There have been signs of promise this year with an enjoyable adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated, a weird Faustus that actually turned out to be a rather cynical critique of Brit Art, and, for those who like that kind of thing, Blonde Bombshells of 1943. Alan Plater's musical extravaganza was bound to prove a hit with audiences of a certain age and that was the case. Its neighbour just down the road in Kilburn, the Tricycle has always specialised in a heady mix of Caribbean, Irish and Jewish Theatre with the picks in 2006 the London transfer of August Wilson's final play Gem of the Ocean and a revival of John B Keane's Irish Classic, The Field. The Orange Tree is always at its best with revivals and had a hat-trick of hits with JB Priestley's The Linden Tree, Granville Barker's The Madras House and Shaw's Major Barbara. The Young Vic has been closed for much of the year but has already presented some exciting productions in its newly refurbished and redesigned spaces. Dennis Kelly's Love and Money, which opened the mid-sized Maria, was a fascinating drama of contemporary life, while their Christmas show, The Enchanted Pig by John Dove, was a really brilliant mix of opera, musical and children's comedy. Soho produced the usual new writing mix. Laura Wade's latest play, Other Hands about yuppies and their less driven hangers-on was witty, Moses Raine's Shrieks of Laughter (opening at the same time as his older sister Nina's Rabbit) showed great promise, and two plays on African themes, The Sugar Wife by Elizabeth Kuti and Oladipo Agboluaje's The Estate worked in their contrasting ways. The Trafalgar Studios is an unusual space that welcomed the RSC early in the year and also featured Daniel Kramer's moving new production of Bent. As The History Boys toured around Britain, won awards on Broadway and converted to celluloid, Alan Bennett was represented there by the relatively sedate The Old Country, which allowed Timothy West to shine. The Gate is another theatre that will be looking for new artistic director following the retirement of Thea Sharrock whose last year finished with an impressive new look at Ionesco's The Chairs. Charles Mee's Big Love also sticks in the memory for its sheer good nature in a tale ostensibly of mass slaughter. The Arcola in north London is always worth a visit and programmes exceptionally well. The highlight this year was a tribute season for Lorca. It can be difficult to see everything everywhere and if there is one theatre that I have neglected this year it is the Finborough, which has specialised in revivals including David Mercer's now rather dated political play After Haggerty and Rolf Hochhuth's chilling play unfortunately seen in great heat, The Representative. In Hammersmith at the Lyric, there was a wide variety of programming with Mark Ravenhill's pool (no water) not to everyone's taste but well choreographed by Frantic Assembly and a rather nice satire on contemporary life. Even more unusual was Vesturport's Icelandic reworking of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Their Woyzeck also returned to London at the Barbican. At various other venues there was pleasure to be derived from Novel Theatre's stage adaptation of Nina Bawden's Carrie's War, Shunt's promenading Amato Saltone and at the now defunct Sound Theatre a new version of Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing. There were also London transfers from Edinburgh of The Exonerated and Come Again. This review has been designed to pick up on the very best of Theatre in 2006. Unusually, there is almost unanimous critical agreement as to the worst play of the year, with presumably only a single publication demurring. Everybody who saw A Right Royal Farce by two theatre critics from the Spectator was amazed that it managed to make it on to a professional stage. Maybe posterity will show this dire, unfunny comedy in a different light but it seems unlikely. Philip Fisher
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