The best solo stage performances in recent years

Cynthia Erivo will soon take on all 23 characters in Dracula.

In her long-awaited return to the West End, she’ll star solo in a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic tale. It’s directed by Kip Williams, who is making quite the impression on the UK theatre scene after leaving his mark on the Sydney Theatre Company.

One-person shows are seemingly back in fashion, particularly post-pandemic, where, of course, there are logistical benefits, but also power in performance.

Now, we’re looking back at some of the singular most impressive solo performances of recent years.

Samuel Barnet in Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen

Marcelo Dos Santos’s one-man play about what it means to be funny and what it takes to be loved was performed with hilarity by Samuel Barnett at the Bush Theatre following its Edinburgh Festival Fringe premiere. There, our critic wrote: “The show confirms Dos Santos as a writer of enormous talent, one you want to watch. But it’s Barnett’s consummate skill that makes it must-see.”

Apphia Campbell in Black is the Color of My Voice

For just over an hour, Apphia Campbell’s solo show tells the story of a young piano prodigy who became a jazz legend and a civil rights activist – Nina Simone. The piece was followed by a cabaret session inspired by Simone’s music. Now, it is going on tour across the country.

Jodie Comer in Prima Facie

The theatre world and beyond all rose for Jodie Comer as she took on the role of Tessa, a criminal barrister who has her world turned upside down following a sexual assault in Suzie Miller’s important play Prima Facie. For her performance, Comer picked up the trifecta of theatre awards: the WhatsOnStage Award, the Olivier and the Tony in a single season. Described as “an unforgettable moment of theatre,” Comer is currently reprising her triumph on a regional tour, after being broadcast in cinemas and on National Theatre at Home and crucially opening up conversation.

Thomas Coombes in Death of England: Michael and Paapa Essiedu in Death of England: Delroy

Written by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, the plays form two-thirds of an interconnected trilogy that were staged in rep for the very first time last year. All three (the last starred Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Erin Doherty) had their world premieres at the National Theatre to great acclaim. Our reviewer said that Coombes showcased a “powerhouse performance” of an urgent monologue, while Essiedu gave “nothing short of a tour de force performance.” The roles were originated by the great Rafe Spall and Michael Balogun.

Tim Crouch in I, Malvolio

Daring theatre maker Tim Crouch’s I, Malvolio is described as a “hilarious and often unsettling rant” that reimagines Twelfth Night. It first premiered at the Brighton Festival in 2010 and has toured the world. It was last seen at the Globe in 2023, where it received the full five stars from our WhatsOnStage critic who said “[Crouch is] such an immaculate performer and improviser that we seem to spend the smallest part of the evening speeding through the recaps of Twelfth Night, most of the time with Crouch off-script and genuinely appreciating and engaging with the audience he has, but it feels seamless.”

Jonny Donahoe in Every Brilliant Thing

Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s show recently marked its tenth anniversary with a return to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, stints in the West End and an upcoming crossing to Broadway. It has always largely been Donahoe setting the standard for communal storytelling with an audience, as the young boy who is trying to ease his mother’s depression by creating a list of all the best things in the world. Still, he has recently started to let stars in on the fun… Daniel Radcliffe is up next!

Jack Holden in Kenrex / Jack Holden in Cruise

Solo shows have got a hold on Jack Holden! The writer and performer first made waves in Cruise, which, as the first new play to open in the West End post-pandemic, explored the world of 1980s Soho in dazzling light while also paying tribute to a generation decimated by HIV and AIDS. And while he’s joined on stage by composer John Patrick Elliott who provides the music, in Kenrex, Holden plays a myriad of characters all involved in a true crime, where our reviewer said “… Holden switches between a dozen or so characters, giving each an individual stance and not overdoing the female parts,” concluding, “the standing ovation was mainly for the execution.” After its second sold-out run in London, it’ll be heading to NYC.

Eddie Izzard in Great Expectations

Across the UK and the US, Eddie Izzard and classic story lovers alike have experienced new takes on familiar stories. In Great Expectations, she took on 19 of Charles Dickens’ characters solo after having the revelation that she is exactly 150 years younger than Dickens, and her experiences with dyslexia. Izzard’s piece arrived in the West End in 2023, and our reviewer said that the performer’s “national treasure status has never felt so justified. Glorious.”

They then reunited with Mark Izzard and Selina Cadell to portray men, women, ghosts, scholars, tyrants, courtiers, lovers, fools, and poets in a bare stage production of Hamlet.

Anoushka Lucas in Elephant

Described as part gig, part musical love story, part journey through Empire, Anoushka Lucas‘ semi-autobiographical Elephant is an exploration of identity in 21^st-century Britain. It has enjoyed three outings in London, with the most recent being a reimagined new production at the Menier Chocolate Factory. What began life as a short piece commissioned in 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, Lucas, “a magnetic storyteller,” creates characters like the heroine Lylah, her Jamaican uncle, her hectoring but loving mother, and her laid-back boyfriend. “You have to listen,” said Crompton in her five-star review.

Rob Madge in My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?)

The WhatsOnStage Award-winning autobiographical piece from Rob Madge launched the writer and actor to absolute stardom (and secured a place in all of our hearts!). With music by longtime friend and collaborator Pippa Cleary, and a generous helping of home videos from their childhood, Madge showcases their love for all things Disney and musical theatre and how acceptance from their family helped them find their queer identity. The show has toured across the UK and had a long-awaited bow in New York last year.

Dylan Mulvaney in F*ghag

Our critic described Dylan Mulvaney’s solo show as “part musical, part-cabaret, fully confessional…” which “takes the crowd through a helter-skelter hour of career highs and personal lows.” Dissecting the interaction between faith and sexuality, audiences to Mulvaney’s “joyously queer” show were welcomed to the theatre by the star herself, and we’ve cared very much about her ever since.

Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape

It was a big deal last year when Gary Oldman returned to where his acting career began, the York Theatre Royal. Samuel Beckett’s solo show follows Krapp, an elderly man who listens to recordings of his younger self, reflecting on the passage of time and the aspirations of his past. Lucky for us audiences, Oldman will reprise his role, this time at the Royal Court from 8 to 30 May, as part of the theatre’s 70th anniversary. Did we mention that he also directed and designed the show?

Andrew Scott in Vanya

With a tilt of his head or a rise of a brow, Andrew Scott masterfully transformed into each of Chekhov’s characters in Simon Stephens’ version of Uncle Vanya. Heralded as “a revelation” in our review, the piece went on to pick up Best Play Revival at the 24th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards. He also took the show over to New York. See what he had to say on opening night in the West End below:

Sheridan Smith in Shirley Valentine

Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine is a staple solo show, and when in 2023 it found itself “in Smith’s gloriously vulnerable hands”, our critic said it was “sure to be a hit all over again.” It was. Her run, directed by Matthew Dunster, was extended due to demand.

Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Succession‘s Sarah Snook shook up the West End in a solo telling of Oscar Wilde’s timeless story. The team behind it are also responsible for Erivo’s upcoming Dracula, and the piece was first staged in Australia with Eryn Jean Norvill starring. About Snook’s West End debut, our critic wrote, “Her confidence on stage is breathtaking; she owns the space, elegantly playing with all the technology, never being drowned by it.” It earned her an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for her mantelpiece. Not bad at all.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag

What started as a dare for Phoebe Waller-Bridge has become a theatrical phenomenon and a blueprint for solo performances. Waller-Bridge’s monologue was first seen at the Soho Theatre in 2013 before heading up to Edinburgh. The writer and performer played in the West End in 2019, after huge popularity from the two-season television adaptation. Of the return, our chief critic Sarah Crompton wrote: “But the power of Fleabag resides in the combination of these moments of pure hilarity with an undertow of sadness so profound that it hurts. Every feeling flits across Waller-Bridge’s face; she never overplays anything, but she makes us always remember the tragedy that her flawed heroine has brought into her own life. It’s a terrific performance, beautifully realised, burnishing the legend that the star has already created. Welcome back.”

Ruth Wilson in The Human Voice

Ruth Wilson is perhaps one of the most daring actors of our time. When she’s not giving a 24-hour acting masterclass alongside unrehearsed screen partners, she is taking on solo shows written in the 1930s. Jean Cocteau’s play sees an unnamed woman fight over the phone with an unseen and unheard man whom she loves. Wilson used her own experiences of having a long-distance relationship throughout the pandemic to inspire her performance, directed by Ivo van Hove and designed by Jan Versweyveld.

Honourable mentions: Asa Butterfield in Second Best, Maureen Lipman in Rose, Lewis Doherty in BOAR and WOLF, Max Alexander-Taylor in The Lion, Lauryn Redding in Bloody Elle, Declan Bennett in Boy Out the City, Rosie Day and Charithra Chandran in Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon, and Forbes Masson in Jekyll and Hyde. Plus anybody who dares take on White Rabbit, Red Rabbit.