Top Picks of London Theatre 2018: Casts & Creatives

My top theatre productions of 2018 are up! You can read them all here. But there’s more praise to go around when I look back at the performances and productions to have impressed over the last year. So, with no actual awards to deliver, here are my top cast and creatives of 2018, who shall receive only a sincere nod of respect and appreciation for performances which stood out amongst so many other wonderful performances given this year. 

I make absolutely no apology for the length of this three part round-up. When 110 shows have been seen, I feel no need to be unnecessarily restrictive when it comes to far-reaching recognition. I also stand by my selections of categories – I’m praising what I’ve loved, meaning made-up categories feature and I’ve chosen to separate my Top Picks into London, Regional and Touring Productions to ensure fair coverage across theatreland…

Here’s the first instalment of my Top Picks Of Casts and Creatives 2018: London Productions

Best Lead Performance in a Musical

Adrienne Warren in Tina The Tina Turner Musical

Best Supporting Performance in a Musical

Courtney Bowman in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Best Lead Performance in a Drama

Sharon D. Clark in Caroline, Or Change

(I’m getting away with this as for me, Caroline, Or Change is such a gripping show because it’s such a clear and distinctive hybrid).

Best Supporting Performance in a Drama

Lauren Ward in Caroline, Or Change

Best Lead Performance in a Comedy

Joshua James in Lady Windermere’s Fan



Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy

Samantha Spiro In Lady Windermere’s Fan

Best Ensemble Performance

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Best Female Vocals in a Musical

‪Adrienne Warren in Tina The Tina Turner Musical

Best Male Vocals in a Musical

John McCrea In Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Best Duet

Adrienne Warren and Francesca Jackson in Tina The Tina Turner Musical

Best Lead Performance in a Fringe Production

Miranda Porter – He/She/It Happens

Best Supporting Performance in a Fringe Production

Rachel Morris – In The Wake Of

Best Direction

Tom Morris – The Grinning Man

Best Fringe Direction

Miranda Porter – He/She/It Happens



Best Choreography

Kirstie Skivington – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Best Set Design

Bob Crowley – Aladdin

Best Costume Design

Mark Thompson – Tina, The Tina Turner Musical

Best Lighting Design

Bruno Poet – Tina, The Tina Turner Musical

Best Puppetry Design and Direction

Finn Caldwell and Toby Olié (for Gyre and Gimble) – The Grinning Man (with additional prosthetic and make-up design from Susanna Peretz).

Best Fringe Writing

Miranda Porter – He/She/It Happens

Best New Writing (Book)

Tom Macrae and Jonathan Butterell – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Best Writing Overall

Oscar Wilde – Lady Windermere’s Fan

Best New Music

Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom Macrae – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Overall Best Music

Various – Tina, The Tina Turner Musical

Top five most memorable moments:

Adrienne Warren’s EPIC end of show concert

*That* moment of solidarity and acceptance in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Jennifer Saunders’ Don’t Touch My Fan Sir (penned by Kathy Burke)

Sharon D Clarke’s entire performance (yes, really).

Miranda Porter’s entire show (yes, really).

Here’s to another year of theatrical glory in 2019!