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Another difficult list? Perhaps the hardest of all.
The first play that hit me between the eyes, and in the heart and in the belly (laughs) was A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic.
I was a teenager, the seat cost me half a week’s pocket money, and I came out at half past ten convinced that nothing else in the world mattered very much. Mary and I have been to the theatre at least once a week for fifty years, and that conviction has never quite left me.
Books are private. A novel happens between you and the page, in a chair, in silence. The theatre is the opposite — three hundred strangers in the same room, breathing together, laughing in the same place, going still in the same place. When it works, it is the most unputdownable form of storytelling I know. When it does not, you have at least had a glass of wine in the interval.
Whittling this list to twelve was, frankly, brutal. Coward isn’t here. Pinter isn’t here. Half of Shakespeare isn’t here (but I will do a Shakespeare and Dickens list later).
I left off plays I have seen ten times and would happily see ten more. I also left of Agatha Christie, as the master has her own Best Agatha Christie list. These are the twelve I keep returning to — for the writing, for the performances, and for the small, particular thrill of watching a room of strangers fall silent at the same line.
1. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM by William Shakespeare (1600)
This is my favourite Shakespeare and, as I sit here now, it feels like my favourite play of all time. Some people might be surprised that it’s not one of the so-called political heavyweights like Hamlet, Macbeth, Coriolanus or King Lear. Yes, Hamlet is an undoubted masterpiece and Lear is the greatest play he ever wrote, but they aren’t the ones I’m consistently drawn back to.
When it comes to character, Midsummer is a box of delights. You’ve got your A-listers like Oberon and Titania, but I have just as much love for Bottom or Quince.
Let’s not forget that a night out at the theatre is also meant to be fun!
2. LONDON ASSURANCE by Dion Boucicault and John Brougham (1841)
A wonderful comedy with a quite ridiculous plot. The chance of a beautiful young bride lures a frightful fop, Sir Harcourt Courtly, away from fashionable London, but his best laid plans begin to fall apart when he meets the redoubtable Lady Gay Spanker. Together, they are two of British theatre’s great comic leads.
I saw Donald Sinden as Courtly, opposite Elizabeth Spriggs in the early-70s, and he played it with such ease and grace. Just a raised eyebrow would have the entire audience in stitches. That was 50 years ago and I can still remember how good it was.
3. TWO BY TWO by Richard Rogers, Martin Charnin and Peter Stone (1970)
Again, back in the early-70s, I got very excited at the prospect of seeing a genuine Hollywood legend on Broadway: Danny Kaye. Just before the start of the run, he broke his leg and had to perform part of the show in a wheelchair. It didn’t make the slightest difference, he was absolutely terrific. To be able to take something like that – such a huge, physical barrier between you and the audience – and weave it into a high-energy musical takes some doing.
I still believe that London theatre is the best in the world, but when it comes to musicals, Broadway is hard to beat.
4. LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT by Eugene O’Neill (1956)
O’Neill’s best play? Probably. One of America’s most important plays? Definitely. A family tearing strips off of each other, raking over the past – and partly based on O’Neill’s own family. Not exactly a laugh-a-minute evening at the theatre but catch the right cast and it’ll sock you square on the jaw with raw emotional power.
It’s also kind of night out that you have to prepare for. I remember once going to see it and grabbing three or four hours sleep in the afternoon, knowing full well how much the performance demanded from the audience.
5. SEPARATE TABLES by Terence Rattigan (1954)
Two single act plays, telling different stories but set in the same hotel in Bournemouth and written to be played by the same actors. Both are tragic tales, full of loneliness and lies. I’ve seen a few versions, but the best by far was part of a Rattigan evening in 1972. It starred Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson – almost 30 years after Brief Encounter – but they only performed the second play, Table Number Seven. Howard was the dubious Major Pollack, a con man chasing after the affections of a naïve young lady. Celia Johnson played the tough mother who immediately has him marked down as a nasty piece of work.
6. A VOYAGE AROUND MY FATHER by John Mortimer (1971)
Everyone knows Mortimer for Rumpole of the Bailey – which was wonderful – but this was where he was at his strongest. An autobiographical work, about the sometimes strained, sometimes hilarious relationship between a young man and his cantankerous father, it is without a doubt, the best thing he ever wrote.
As a story, it appeared on BBC radio in the early-60s, but eventually came to the Haymarket in 1971, with Alec Guinness as the father. There are some screen actors who can’t cope with the intimacy of the stage and some stage actors who can’t do film, but Guinness was brilliant at both.
7. THE DRESSER by Ronald Harwood (1980)
Although he’s sadly no longer with us, Ronald Harwood was an amazing writer and a dear, dear friend. This was recently updated for the big screen, with Ian McKellen as the dresser/personal assistant, Norman, and Anthony Hopkins as the now past his prime knight of the stage, known only as Sir. Ronald told me that it was actually based on his time working with the great Shakespearean actor, Sir Donald Wolfit.
I saw Tom Courtney as Norman opposite Freddie Jones when it came to London in 1980 and, of course, Courtenay reprised the role for the 1983 film version. It’s dreadfully sad at times, but wonderful storytelling that works so well on stage.
8. THE NORMAN CONQUESTS by Alan Ayckbourn (1973)
The was the first Ayckbourn play I ever saw, and it remains my favourite. What you’ve actually got is a trilogy: three different plays written about the same six characters at the same house over the same weekend. The result is that you can go on different nights and come away with an entirely new experience. After a run in his artistic hometown of Scarborough, it came to London with a superb cast: Tom Courtenay (again), Penelope Keith, Felicity Kendal and Michael Gambon. It was this role that made Gambon’s name.
There was an excellent TV version in 1977 – with Richard Briers, Tom Conti and Penelope Wilton – but I’ve always been a stage man. I like to see real people up there.
9. THREE SISTERS by Anton Chekhov (1900)
Now, I hope this doesn’t sound too disrespectful, but a little Chekhov goes a long way. And although he is an undoubted genius, not to mention a master of the spoken word – at times, this is closer to poetry than prose – I’ve no real desire to see this again.
I was lucky enough to catch the performance at Stratford in 1976, with Maggie Smith as Masha, Martha Henry as Olga and Marti Maraden as Irina, and it’s an evening I will never forget. Like I said, this isn’t an easy play, but if you get the three daughters right, everything else falls into place. Here, the men are merely secondary characters. Thinking about it now, I wonder if that’s why I enjoyed it so much.
10. GUYS AND DOLLS by Frank Loesser (1950)
I wanted to include a recent performance and immediately thought of Nicholas Hytner’s production at the Bridge Theatre in London in 2023. It was stunning! I’ve seen a lot of Guys and Dolls both in London and New York, but this knocked them for six. All the action takes place in the middle of the auditorium, so you’re totally and utterly immersed in the story.
Musicals sometimes get a bad press, with critics marking them down as ‘populist’ theatre. So, they’re popular? So, what! Look at the list of songs… Luck Be a Lady; Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat. Hytner produced one of the best nights of musical theatre I’ve seen in a long, long time.
And my grandchild loved it too – so it was a really special evening to take him (at 8) to his first adult musical (although we still do panto!)
11. DEAR ENGLAND by James Graham (2023)
I like James Graham’s writing. Well, I like most of it. Not so keen on some of the TV stuff, but This House [2012; detailing the ups and downs of the Labour Government between 1974 and 1979] was excellent.
When I first heard he was writing a play about Gareth Southgate and the England team as they approached a trio of major tournaments, I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work.
But, of course, it’s not about the game, it’s about the people. About changing old fashioned attitudes. Joseph Fiennes, who plays Southgate, is uncanny; he gets the voice, the walk, the mannerisms, everything. Even if you don’t like football, you’ll enjoy it.
12. HAMILTON by Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015)
I’ve been going to see musicals for most of my life… Broadway, the West End, all over the world. I have seen some of the greatest performers singing some of the greatest songs that musical theatre has ever produced. I’m not trying to impress you, merely explaining that I can sometimes be a harsh critic. I don’t always get quite as excited as everybody else when a brand-new musical announces itself with a string of breathless, five-star reviews.
Hamilton, though, took me by surprise. I saw it in London and it was a tremendous evening; strong cast, wonderful set-pieces and visually stunning. I’ll admit that some of the music wasn’t to my specific taste (although the audience loves it all), but songs like My Shot, You’ll Be Back and That Would Be Enough have a timeless quality that will undoubtedly keep audiences coming back year after year.
This would be 6 stars if they gave them – script, production, music, lyrics, and awesome sense of taking you into the room where it happens in a pivotal part of history.
Perhaps my favourite and enduring memory – The Room Where it Happens – check out Leslie Odom Jr, Lin Manuel Miranda, and the original cast of the multi multi multi (11) Tony award winning musical on Broadway performing live on YouTube if you have never seen it.
Tim Rice — who has been a friend for fifty years and was on my Unputdownable podcast — would have happily written half of these lyrics himself.
A great play and a great novel do the same thing — they make you forget the world outside.
Shakespeare, Shaw, Stoppard — every novelist alive owes them a debt.
I have not included Agatha Christie on this list, as the master of the crime genre, Agatha has her own list.
If the plays on this list left their mark on you, I hope my novels can do the same. Three you might want to sample might be:
Adam & Eve — my new novel, out this October. Eighteen months of writing. Twenty drafts. A WW2 epic about the choices that shape a life. The hardest book I’ve ever written, and the one I’m proudest of.
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less — my first novel, fifty years old this June (2026).
The con that launched my career, with a special anniversary edition out now.
The Clifton Chronicles — seven books, three generations, one family. The saga readers tell me they have read three or four times.
Read the first chapter of Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
Listen to the First Chapter of Only Time Will Tell Audiobook
If you enjoyed this list, then maybe try the following Unputdownable lists
My Top 10 Agatha Christie Books
Top 12 Best Classic Novels of All Time
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