CRITICS CHOICE: Tim Hochstrasser's Pick Of 2015

We asked our reviewers to pick their standout production in 2015. Tim Hochstrasser reflects on his year.

Andrew Hodges and Greddie Stewart. Photo: Scott Rylander When you look back on 2015 the reflex action is to recommend GYPSY or THE WINTER’S TALE for the stand-out performances that lie at the centre of success for those shows, and the fact that the productions darkened and deepened as the runs continued. However, it seems a waste to flag up sold-out evenings that are already laden with garlands and need no further recommendation. Instead I should like to plead the cause of two far less conspicuous plays. My best revival recommendation would go to Antic Disposition’s HENRY V played in the evocative setting of Temple Church. It is very hard to find something new to say about one of the most familiar plays in the canon, but this production developed a fully thought through and reconfigured setting in the period of the First World War that fused precisely and informatively with the original. The relocation to a military hospital shared between French and British troops worked a treat and in combination with settings of the poetry of AE Housman provided many moments of poignant reflection on the pity of war and on the role of this particular play in shaping English historical identity. The moment when the soldiers marched away into the darkness past the tombs of the Templar Knights was for me my most affecting and unexpected theatre moment of 2015. Their production of A Christmas Carol has their press night at Middle Temple tonight!

Alexander Huetson, Adam Lilley, Christopher Hines Photo credit: PicsByGaz.com If I am allowed to put in a word for a new play, then it would go to ENCOUNTER at Above the Stag. Again, it is a real challenge to find both enough distance and sufficient respect to build a new play around the Coward-Lean classic BRIEF ENCOUNTER, but this is what Phil Wilmott and his team did to great effect, with super fine performances from Alexander Huetson and Adam Lilley, and atmospheric designs from David Shields. This was another high-quality production from Peter Bull’s gay themed Vauxhall venue which has consistently punched above its weight in 2015 whether in serious drama or comedy, whether delicate or louche. See choices from Danny Coleman-Cooke and Douglas Mayo