THINKING back, the memorable shows from this year’s fare are mostly revivals.

Outstanding was the touring production of The Girl from the North. Conor McPherson’s collaboration with Bob Dylan has led to what can only be described as a new genre of musical.
 
Set in the US Steinbeckian Depression years, the series of interlocking situations of a lost generation are given telling potency through Dylan’s songs, superbly performed at key moments by members of a 19-strong cast. The music and lyrics are more than complements to the narrative. They provide a sub-text commentary to lives squeezed almost dry of love by their economic and social austerity.

The Doctor, Robert Icke’s adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1922 Professor Bernhardi, re-emerged after the lockdown in Bath, before transferring to the West End at the Duke of York Theatre. The play goes to the heart of many of the key problems facing our contemporary society.
 
Ruth Wolff, a Jewish specialist doctor in charge of a hospital department, refuses the request of a Catholic priest to render the last rites to a 14-year-old dying boy leading to a national uproar.