London's Cultural Highlights 0f 2023

Phaedra at The National Theatre, 1st February - 8th April

Writer-Director Simon Stone (Yerma, Young Vic) reimagines Seneca’s famous tragedy in this striking new play. The renowned Janet McTeer (Ozark) takes the title role as the eponymous doomed heroine whose success is fatally undermined by a dangerous longing for her stepson. The cast also includes Assaad Bouab (Call My Agent) making his London stage debut.

Cinderella at The Royal Opera House, from 27th March

After over a decade away from the Royal Opera House stage, Ashton’s timeless reworking of Charles Perrault’s famous rags-to-riches story returns, showcasing the choreographer’s deft musicality and the beauty of Prokofiev’s transcendent score. A creative team steeped in the magic of theatre, film, dance and opera brings a new atmosphere to Cinderella’s ethereal world of fairy godmothers, pumpkin carriages, handsome princes and finding true love.

Aspects of Love at The Lyric Theatre, 12th May - 11th November

34 years after having starred in the original West End production, Michael Ball returns to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s celebrated musical Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre for a strictly limited season, this time playing the role of George. The show tells the story of passion, love, life and loss across three generations of a family and their artistic companions, against a backdrop of 1940s France and Italy