Pocket Size Theatre: Top 10 Best shows of 2018!

Theatre in 2018 has been incredible! We're ending the year in a strange place, lots of long running shows closing but also lots of exciting shows coming up! Click here to see a list of shows we're looking forward too. We reflect, with our incredible team, on some of the best shows of the year. Take a look!

Six at the Arts Theatre

"Hamilton may be in trouble, theres new girls on the block and they've come to steal your fans. The music will be stuck in your head for days and this has to be one of the hottest shows of 2018. Get your tickets now, however I suspect we’ll see the return of this show to London very soon."

Six returns to the Arts Theatre from the 16th January after completing a sold out run at the Arts Theatre and a successful UK tour.

Read our ★★★★★ review here!

Julius Caesar at The Bridge Theatre

"An absolute must-see for those who perhaps don't know Shakespeare as well as they should as it brings his historical text stampeding into the modern day and for those who know it like the back of their hand: it's new, vibrant and will be unlike any other retelling you've seen before. Shakespearean perfection."

Julius Caesar played the Bridge Theatre form January through to April with a National Theatre Live broadcast in March.

Read our ★★★★★ review here!

REVIEW: The Rink at the Southwark Playhouse

The Rink is one of the most famous flops on Broadway, with box office draws Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera you’d think it would run for years but the critics hit hard and it closed after only 204 performances. It didn’t last very long in London either, running only a month. It seems this show doesn’t have much success in large theatres. It isn’t a very commercial show, so I can completely see why but after seeing this revival at the Southwark Playhouse I can tell you with confidence that this piece is musical theatre at its finest. 

Anna is stuck with the left overs of what was once was a thriving Roller Skating Rink, her daughter and husband have left her and she decides to sell the building and move to Florida. On the day she is getting out her daughter comes back, and the audience are taken on a journey to look back at their past to see how we ended up where we are at the beginning. 

Terrence McNally (Book), John Kander (Music) and Fred Edd (Lyrics) have created an intelligent musical and the story telling devises used are filmic but transfer to the stage wonderfully. With Adam Lensons direction we’ve got an intelligent and heart-warming piece that is story telling at its best. 

FIRST LOOK: The Rink at the Southwark Playhouse, starring Caroline O’Connor and Gemma Sutton

Caroline O’Connor and Gemma Sutton star as Anna and Angel in The Rink at the Southwark Playhouse, opening tonight, with Stewart Clarke, Ross Dawes, Michael Lin, Elander Moore, Ben Redfern and Jason Winter will play Dino, Lino, Lucky, Benny, Lenny and Tony respectively in the first London revival in 20 years of Kander and Ebb’s THE RINK. 

The new production of THE RINK will play at Southwark Playhouse for a limited season from 25 May to 23 June 2018, with a national press night on Tuesday 29 May. 

Anna, an Italian housewife who runs a roller-skating rink on the Eastern seaboard, is about to sell it to developers until her estranged daughter, Angel, returns after a long absence, hoping to save the rink and patch things up with her mother.

Full Casting announced for THE RINK at the Southwark Playhouse

Stewart Clarke, Ross Dawes, Michael Lin, Elander Moore, Ben Redfern and Jason Winter will play Dino, Lino, Lucky, Benny, Lenny and Tony respectively in the first London revival in 20 years of Kander and Ebb’s THE RINK. They join the previously announced Caroline O’Connor as Anna and Gemma Sutton as Angel.

The new production of THE RINK will play at Southwark Playhouse for a limited season from 25 May to 23 June 2018, with a national press night on Tuesday 29 May. 

Anna, an Italian housewife who runs a roller-skating rink on the Eastern seaboard, is about to sell it to developers until her estranged daughter, Angel, returns after a long absence, hoping to save the rink and patch things up with her mother.

THE RINK originally premiered on Broadway on 9 February 1984, starring Chita Rivera as Anna and Liza Minelli as Angel. Rivera won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance. The show premiered in London at the Cambridge Theatre on 17 February 1988, starring Josephine Blake and Diane Langton as Anna and Angel respectively.

Caroline O’Connor to Star in THE RINK at the Southwark Playhouse

Renowned Broadway, West End and film actress Caroline O’Connor will star as Anna in the first London revival in 20 years of Kander and Ebb’s THE RINK, having understudied the role of Angel in the 1988 London production of the show. The new production of THE RINK will play at Southwark Playhouse for a limited season from 25 May to 23 June 2018, with a national press night on Tuesday 29 May. The role of Angel, along with further casting is to be announced

Caroline O’Connor is currently starring as Countess Lily in the Broadway musical Anastasia. She is perhaps best known for playing Nini in Baz Luhrmann's Oscar-winning film Moulin Rouge as well as Velma Kelly in Chicago on Broadway and in Australia and Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel in the West End, for which she received a 1996 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Caroline’s other theatre roles include the one woman play Bombshells (Arts Theatre, London) which was written especially for her and for which she received her second Olivier Award nomination, Hildy in On The Town (London Coliseum), End of the Rainbow (Sydney Opera House) and Edith Piaf in Piaf (Melbourne and Sydney). Caroline played Ethel Merman in the 2004 Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely.

Pocket Size Picks: 12 Shows to look forward to in 2018!

Little Shop of Horrors at Regent's Park, Open Air Theatre

From 3rd August to 15th September 

Chess at the London Coliseum 

From 26th April to 2nd June 

Tickets from £18!