Theatre: Clare Brennan’s five best shows of 2023

‘Extraordinary’: Liam Heslin and Sophie Lenglinger in The Plough and the Stars in Galway. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh

1. DruidO’Casey
Galway; July
The experience of seeing Seán O’Casey’s three great Dublin-based plays, run back-to-back in one sitting (with intervals!), was revelatory. Under Garry Hynes’s direction, O’Casey’s flawed, human, foible-full characters achieve a mythic quality (extraordinary acting from the ensemble). The action, set in some of Dublin’s poorest districts before, after and during the Easter Rising of 1916, speaks of universal sufferings in time of strife.

2. Oliver!
Leeds Playhouse; December (runs until 27 January)