Top 5 Performances of 2025 (ft. Emmanuel Akwafo)

Olivier nominee Emmanuel Akwafo (A Midsummer Night's Dream / For Black Boys) joins West End Frame Editor, Andrew Tomlins, for our first special end-of-year round-up episode!

In this episode Andrew reveals his top five stage performances of 2025. Emmanuel shares his top shows and performance of the year, and they share submissions from West End Frame listeners too.

Emmanuel is a producer, writer, director, award-winning actor and presenter. He originated the role of Pitch in For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron, performing the show at the New Diorama Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Apollo Theatre. He received an Olivier Award nomination, along with his castmates, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and won a Black British Theatre Award.

This year Emmanuel starred as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre and won a Black British Theatre Award for his performance. His theatre credits also include Narrator in Sappho (Southwark Playhouse), Amiens in As You Like It (Globe Theatre), Mr Martin in The Bald Soprano (Leicester Square Theatre) and Jay in The Spalding Suite (Southbank Centre) as well as several pantomimes at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Emmanuel's debut play Limp Wrist and the Iron First recently played a full run at Brixton House. He also directed and produced the show with his production company No Name Creatives. His producing projects have included the Black Print concert at the Phoenix Arts Club in London and Green Room 42 in New York. He also produced the Black Print panel at this year’s MusicalCon, as well as readings of some more of his plays.

Follow Emmanuel on Instagram: @eman.akwafo

This podcast is hosted by Andrew Tomlins. @AndrewTomlins32

Thank you for listening to The West End Frame Show in 2025 and for sharing your top performances of the year - we included as many of your contributions as possible. We're back soon to round up our top shows of the year.

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