The world premiere of *My Neighbour Totoro* triumphed at the 2023 Olivier Awards, winning six categories out of its nine nominations at the ceremony. It’s a good time for the Studio Ghibli stage adaptation, too, as *My Neighbour Totoro* will open in the West End next year, with performances at the [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) from 8 March.

Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* follows Satsuki and Mei,...

Here's why 'My Neighbour Totoro' deserved all the Oliviers

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Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* will return to London later next year, opening at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

Next year, the [Royal Shakespeare Company’s](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/royal-shakespeare-company) triumphant 2022 stage adaptation of [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/25389-my-neighbour-totoro) heads to the West End's [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) for a third run due to enormous popular demand. The show won six Olivier Awards and broke the Barbican’s box office record for the most tickets...

What to expect from London shows based on Studio Ghibli films

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Studio Ghibli is a renowned Japanese animation film studio founded in 1985. They are known for creating imaginative movies, including *My Neighbour Totoro* and *Spirited Away*.

A stage adaptation of television comedy *Inside No 9* will arrive in the West End next year. The show opens for a 12-week run at Wyndham's Theatre from 18 January 2025.

The TV show's original writers and performers Steve Pemberton (*The Pillowman*) and Reece Shearsmith (*A Very Expensive Poison*) will star in the West End show, titled *Stage/Fright*, which will blend original material with familiar characters from the series. 

Speaking about the announcement, Pemberton and Shearsmith said:...

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's 'Inside No 9' to be adapted for the West End 

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The TV show's original creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith will star in the West End adaptation when it opens next year. 

The hit musical comedy *Titanique* has confirmed plans for a West End run later this year. The show is currently performing at Off-Broadway venue the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The musical, which is co-written by Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli, has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022.

The parody of James Cameron's Oscar-winning *Titanic* film features a raft of Celine Dion’s iconic songs including “My Heart Will...

'Titanique' confirms planned West End run

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The musical has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022. It is currently at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The British writer James Graham is on an incredible run at the moment. He just won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for *Dear England*, a fantastic drama about football manager Gareth Southgate, which enticed new audiences into theatre, and the musical *Tammy Faye*, for which he supplied the book, is opening on Broadway this autumn.

He’s also a prolific screenwriter, with recent hits including the crime series *Sherwood* and the dystopian drama *The Way*. Graham has that rare combination of...

Learn more about James Graham’s career ahead of 'Boys from the Blackstuff'

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From plays *Dear England* and *This House* to TV hits like *Sherwood*, Graham is unstoppable – and now his *Boys from the Blackstuff* is coming to the West End.

The bright lights of West End theatres are always appealing, but there are also a number of exciting Off-West End venues in the capital, such as the small but mighty [Bush Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/bush-theatre), which is nestled in west London.

This theatre has always punched above its weight, launching the careers of hugely successful writers such as James Graham and Lucy Kirkwood, as well as actors like Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman, Andrew Scott, and Phoebe...

A complete guide to the Bush Theatre

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Get to know this exciting new-writing venue in west London, which has launched the careers of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Victoria Wood, among others.

The acclaimed screen and stage actor Ben Whishaw is back in town, starring in the premiere of Margaret Perry’s *[Bluets](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/39930-bluets)* at the Royal Court. The play is an adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s book and follows someone obsessed with the colour blue – taking in artists like Joni Mitchell and Billie Holiday as they navigate a devastating heartbreak.

Whishaw is joined in *Bluets* by *House of the Dragon* star Emma D’Arcy and *The Girl Before*’s Kayla...

Learn more about Ben Whishaw's career ahead of 'Bluets' at the Royal Court

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The James Bond and *Paddington* actor is co-starring in this new adaptation of Maggie Nelson's book *Bluets* with Emma D'Arcy and Kayla Meikle.

It’s another fantastic year for [Shakespeare plays](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/shakespeare) in London, and as the weather (finally!) improves, you can start getting those outdoor shows in the diary, as well as all of the brilliant productions in the West End and beyond.

If you’re after a fresh take on the Bard, you’re definitely in luck. Sir Ian McKellen is already wowing audiences, giving his Falstaff a dynamic new spin in Robert Icke's adaptation of *Henry IV*, *[Player...

See modern adaptations and outdoor productions of Shakespeare plays in London

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From Ian McKellen in *Player Kings* to an incredible open-air season at Shakespeare's Globe, there's a wide variety of shows on offer in London.

You just can’t beat family when it comes to riveting drama. Perhaps that’s because no one gets under your skin quite like the people you love and who know you best – and who are bonded to you by blood, like it or not. From Greek tragedy through Shakespearean slanging matches and contemporary clans, shows with family drama at their centre have always ruled our stages.

That’s certainly true of London theatre this year, which features a range of bickering families – from plays like *[Long Day's...

Watch West End family dramas on the London stage

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Enter the homes of these loving but fraught families in West End plays such as *Long Day's Journey Into Night* and musicals like *Back to the Future*.

Get ready for what promises to be the most talked-about play of the year. Hollywood star John Lithgow will play Roald Dahl in a new drama, *[Giant](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/39984-giant)*, which sees the famous author about to release his children’s book *The Witches*, but then rocked by a scandal surrounding anti-Semitic comments he made in an article.

Mark Rosenblatt’s debut play, directed by Nicholas Hytner (artistic director of the Bridge Theatre), also stars Elliot Levey...

Learn more about John Lithgow's career ahead of him playing Roald Dahl in 'Giant'

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The Tony and Emmy-winning Hollywood actor is starring in Mark Rosenblatt’s provocative new play *Giant* at the Royal Court in London this autumn.

See [David Tennant](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/david-tennant), Elliot Levey, and Sharon Small in [*Good*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/26063-good-tickets) in the West End. Good runs at the [Harold Pinter Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/harold-pinter-theatre) to 24 December. Book *Good* tickets on London Theatre.

C. P. Taylor’s *Good* play follows John Halder, a literary professor living in 1930s Germany who is swept into the Nazi movement. David Tennant plays Halder, joined by Elliot Levey as Halder’s friend Maurice, and Sharon Small as Halder’s wife. Edie Newman, Izaak Cainer, Elizabeth Schenk, Jamie Cameron, Becky Bainbridge, Jim Creighton complete the *Good* cast. [Find out more about David Tennant in the West End.](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/david-tennant-on-stage-20-years-in-the-west-end) 

Dominic Cooke directs *Good.* The show features design by Vicki Mortimer, lighting design by Zoe Spurr, and movement by Imogen Knight.

*Good* is at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Book *Good* tickets on London Theatre.

[![LT - CTA - 250](//images.ctfassets.net/6pezt69ih962/1t6HRGmhlYl70k6PmR0mOZ/3caac861bc1d4233cd7844652c925623/LT-CTA-250.png)](https://ticket.londontheatre.co.uk/booking/calendar?product_id=26063&content_product_id=26063&venue_id=134)

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*Photo credit: Good (Photos courtesy of production)*

First look: David Tennant stars in ‘Good’

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Recommended for ages 12+, no children under the age of 5 years will be admitted.

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David Tennant returns to the West End to star in *Good* at the Harold Pinter Theatre. *Good* tickets are available on London Theatre soon.

Tennant plays the lead role of John Halder in the play, a literary professor living in Frankfurt in the 1930s. The *Good* play demonstrates how seemingly decent people could have their lives and motives drastically altered by Nazi ideology during their regime in the Second World War. The Olivier-winning actor, Elliot Levey, will also star in *Good* as Maurice, John Halder's friend.

*Good* was first commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1981, and premiered at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Howard Davies. Michael Grandage later directed the play, which has been hailed one of the most significant plays of the 20th century by the National Theatre, at the Donmar in 1999, starring Charles Dance. 

Dominic Cooke directs *Good* in London. Cooke was the artistic director of the Royal Court from 2006 to 2013, and in that time staged a number of acclaimed productions such as *Clybourne Park*, *Jerusalem*, and *Enron*, each of which transferred to the West End. He has won a number of Olivier Awards for productions such as *The Crucible* with the RSC and *Ma Rainey's Black Bottom* at the National Theatre. He won Best Revival for *Follies* at the National Theatre.

## Who is David Tennant?

David Tennant is a Scottish actor, best known for playing the Doctor in the BBC television series, *Doctor Who.* Tennant's starred in many West End shows: *Much Ado About Nothing* alongside his *Doctor Who* assistant, Catherine Tate, *Richard II*, and *Don Juan in Soho.* David Tennant plays John Halder in the *Good* play.

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Good Tickets | Starring David Tennant | Londontheatre.co.uk

As the world faces its Second World War, one man finds himself swept in an unthinkable movement.
David Tennant and Elliot Levey star in C. P. Taylor's seminal World War Two play.
Find out more about *Good* tickets at the Harold Pinter Theatre on London Theatre today.

Although John Halder is a fictional character, the *Good* storyline follows real life events. At the start of the play, Halder lives in a time where Adolf Hitler assumes office and book burning begins at the University of Berlin in order to stop the dissemination of “illegal thoughts.” Then as the play progresses, moments take place with pogroms, shooting, and war in the background. 

## What to Watch For:

- David Tennant plays John Halder in *Good*. The *Doctor Who* actor’s West End credits include *Don Juan in Soho*, and *Much Ado About Nothing* alongside Catherine Tate.
- Dominic Cooke directs *Good* in London. He previously directed *Follies* at the National Theatre, as well as Olivier Award-winning revivals of *Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,* *Clybourne Park,* and *The Crucible* for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- C. P. Taylor is a Glasgow-born playwright. During his 16-year career, Taylor penned over 70 plays, mostly focusing on his Jewish background and experiences. *Good* is often considered to be his most successful play and is the definitive Holocaust drama in English-speaking theatre.
- The Royal Shakespeare Company commissioned C. P. Taylor to write *Good* in 1981. *Good* in 2022 marks the play’s West End debut.
- Viggo Mortensen played John Halder in the 2008 *Good* film.

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What would it take for a seemingly good man to be seduced by such a vile ideology as Nazism – to the point of becoming an SS officer and an active participant in its worst atrocities? That’s the premise of CP Taylor’s 1981 play [*Good*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/26063-good-tickets), now revived in the West End with [David Tennant](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/a-complete-guide-to-good-starring-david-tennant-in-the-west-end) playing the susceptible Halder.

It’s an urgent question that we are all facing in a time where the far right is once again resurgent, as is anti-Semitism, and democratic norms are being eroded across the world. Dominic Cooke has mounted a pacey production, and Tennant is joined by two excellent co-stars in Sharon Small and Elliot Levey. However, Taylor’s play keeps us at arm’s length before finally gripping in a stronger second half.

Halder is a literature professor in 1930s Frankfurt with a wife and three kids, and a mother with visual impairment and advanced dementia. He’s a bit of a loner – Jewish psychiatrist Maurice is his only friend – and he expresses his frustrations with caring for his mother in a pro-euthanasia novel (which Hitler later praises as being written “from the heart”). He begins an affair with his young student, Anne, while also becoming involved with the Nazi Party.

Taylor’s big dramatic idea is to demonstrate Halder’s fatal detachment from reality – which suits the Nazi purpose, as he is able to distance himself from humanity to the extent of extermination – by having him constantly hear music. So he might be talking to Maurice, but he’s also listening to a dance band and carrying on an internal monologue. Maurice doesn’t quite seem real to him; no one else does, except perhaps Anne. The music turns iconvenient reality into fantasy.

Taylor makes the sinister point that it’s passivity, rather than an active enthusiasm for evildoing, that is the real insidious force in society – people turning a blind eye to the persecution of others if it makes their own lives better. Halder personifies that, drifting into horrors while finding a new justification for each step; his casual moral equivocation is chilling.

It’s a harrowing demonstration of how quickly we can adjust to “the new normal” – like Halder and Anne carrying out a loving domestic conversation while she helps him into his SS uniform – and the banality of evil, like Halder sighing when he's summoned for Kristallnacht because he was happily pottering in the garden. Plus there’s an extra charge in this production – with all the actors using their natural accents – from the casting of lovable Doctor Who star David Tennant; surely he could never become a Nazi officer?

But because we spend much of the play essentially in Halder’s mind, switching between past and present, memories and ponderings, the audience is also detached from the supporting characters, who only appear in brief snapshots. That issue is exacerbated by Small and Levey multi-roling (although very ably), further blurring them together, so Halder’s mounting betrayals don’t land with as much as force as they should.

There is also the issue, particularly in early scenes, that Halder never really seems like a “good” person – however reductive that constantly used term might be. He’s too self-absorbed to be a decent friend, and he resents his wife for not being better at childcare and cooking; he even speculates she might have brain damage because she doesn’t conform to that housewife role. His mother is certainly difficult, and the fraught scenes between them are among the play’s most affecting, but it’s still a leap to legitimising mercy killing. 

However, Tennant superbly captures Halder’s latent vanity and self-serving rationalisations, and does well with both the odd moments of humour (including a folk dance) and vulnerable reflections. Though his route to Nazism is hazy – for example, it’s never quite clear whether his career is at stake if he doesn’t join the Party, or if he’s more ambitious – Tennant gives the latter stages, when Halder has walked too far down a dark path to turn back, an icy resolve.

Small is impressively versatile, flipping between Halder’s terrified mother, absentminded wife and alluring lover, plus a bluff SS major. Levey brings pathos to Maurice, whose understandable fears are shrugged off by Halder, although it’s hard not to compare with his recent Olivier Award-winning turn as Herr Schultz in the  more emotionally powerful *[Cabaret](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/23939-cabaret-tickets)*.

Cooke’s production imprisons us in Halder’s psyche by having minimal set (a bleak stone cell from Vicki Mortimer) and flipping between scenes swiftly via Zoe Spurr’s lighting changes. There are no props, just sound effects for something like Halder and Maurice clinking glasses – or, later, the terrible shattering of glass. Panels in the wall slide open to reveal horrors like the flames awaiting the burning of books. It’s a strong framing, and there are striking, resonant messages within this work, but as drama it unsettles when really it should devastate.

[*Good is running at the Harold Pinter Theatre through 24 December. Book tickets for Good on London Theatre*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/26063-good-tickets)

*Photo credit: David Tennant in Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre. (Photo by Johan Persson)*

'Good' review – David Tennant is chilling as a professor who drifts into Nazism

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David Tennant was born in Bathgate, West Lothian in 1971 and grew up in Ralston, Renfrewshire – just outside Glasgow. At age 16, he won a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and studied there for three years, one of the youngest students they had accepted. [Read more about David Tennant's career in London here.](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/west-end-features/david-tennant-on-stage-20-years-in-the-west-end)

On graduating, Tennant’s first professional production was in a production of *The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui* with the 7:84 Theatre Company. Numerous television appearances followed, including the role of transsexual barmaid Davina in a Scottish TV sitcom, *Rab C Nesbitt*, and the manic depressive Campbell in *Takin’ Over the Asylum* in 1994.

The early 1990s also saw him performing with the Dundee Repertory Theatre before making the move to London in 1994. Here his career began to flourish, making regular appearances with the [Royal Shakespeare Company](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/royal-shakespeare-company), beginning with the role of Touchstone in [*As You Like It*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/23078-as-you-like-it-shakespeares-globe) in 1996. Other appearances with the RSC include Jack Lane in *The Herbal Bed* (1996), Romeo in *Romeo and Juliet* (2000), Berowne in *Love’s Labour’s Lost* (2008) and the title role in *Hamlet* in 2008. The latter was adapted into a BBC film with Tennant reprising his role in 2009.

His most recent Shakespearean performances include Benedick in *Much Ado About Nothing* at the [Wyndham’s Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/wyndhams-theatre) with Catherine Tate in 2011, and the title role in *Richard II* for a limited run at Stratford-upon-Avon before transferring to the [Barbican Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/barbican) in 2013. He reprised the role of *Richard II* at the Barbican and in New York in 2016 as part of the RSC’s ‘King and Country’ cycle.

Tennant is probably best known for his television work, notably his performance in *Casanova* in 2005, as supervillain Kilgrave in *Jessica Jones* and as Alec Hardy in the hugely successful ITV drama series *Broadchurch* alongside Olivia Colman. His appearance as Barty Crouch Jr in the motion picture *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* in 2005 is a fan favourite. 

Tennant’s [tenure as the Doctor](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/west-end-features/a-brief-history-of-doctor-who-actors-on-stage) in *Doctor Who* solidified him as one of the nation’s most beloved actors. Taking over the role from Christopher Eccleston in 2005, Tennant became the tenth actor to portray the role and played the role for 4 years, his final appearance being aired on New Year’s Day 2010. He returned for a one-off guest appearance in the show’s 50th anniversary episode in 2013. Tennant had been an avid fan of *Doctor Who* and has said it was a childhood dream to step into the Doctor’s shoes.

In March 2017, David Tennant returned to the West End’s [Wyndham’s Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/wyndhams-theatre) to play the title role in Patrick Marber’s *Don Juan in Soho*, a modern take on Molière’s classic *Don Juan*.

Tennant played John Halder in *Good* at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Tennant and his co-stars Sharon Small and Elliot Levey all received Olivier Award nominations for their performances. Following this, he will play the title role in *Macbeth* at the Donmar Warehouse.

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David Tennant - Stars on Stage | London Theatre

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Ages 16+ (recommended). Includes themes of an adult and sensitive nature.

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The Hills of California

Blackpool, 1976. The driest summer in 200 years. The beaches are packed. The hotels are heaving.

The Harold Pinter Theatre opened on 15 Oct. 1881 as a comic opera house. Its name on opening was the Royal Comedy Theatre, though its ‘Royal’ epithet was dropped in 1884.

The Comedy Theatre helped establish the New Watergate Club in 1956, a society which helped overturn the stage censorship enforced by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office. The formation of the Club meant that the plays banned by the Government could be performed at this venue as it was now being run as a private club rather than a commercial entity. Notable plays in this category include Arthur Miller’s *A View from the Bridge* and Tennessee Williams’ *Cat On A Hot Tin Roof*. The censorship was finally overturned in 1968. 

Harold Pinter's works were often performed here: *The Homecoming*, *The Caretaker*, *Moonlight*, *No-Man’s Land* and *The Hothouse* all enjoyed successful runs, and Pinter directed a production of *The Old Masters* here in 2004. After his death, it was thought fitting to bestow the honour of naming a theatre after him, and the name was officially changed on 13 Oct. 2011 to the Harold Pinter Theatre. The Ambassador Theatre Group own the Harold Pinter Theatre.

## Harold Pinter Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has four levels – Stalls, Dress Circle, Royal Circle and Balcony. The top three levels are a horseshoe shape around the stalls.

The Stalls is a single block of seats, and offers good sightlines. Some seats are impaired by supportive pillars and the overhang of the Dress Circle.

The Dress Circle doesn’t offer a great raking in the seating, but the view is not affected by the overhang of the Royal Circle. 

The Royal Circle seats curve towards the stage more noticeably than the Dress Circle.

The Balcony feels very high in this theatre.

First look: David Tennant stars in ‘Good’

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