The year 2025 marks another sensational year for Sonia Friedman’s eponymous theatre production company, responsible for some of the most illustrious, era-defining shows in both the West End and on Broadway. From record-breaking commercial juggernauts including The Book of Mormon and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to influential contemporary classics such as Jerusalem. Next up? Paddington: The Musical. And yet, in the three-plus decades she has worked in the industry, it was only this year, with an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s The Years, that she felt she was “producing a piece of work that was about me”. “This was the first piece of theatre where it was like, ‘Oh, this is my story, our story, the women’s story.’ That’s been quite a shock that it’s taken this amount of time to see that on a commercial stage.” While there are endless stories she still wishes to tell, much keeps her awake at night. Chief among her worries? The cutting of school trips to the theatre and drama from the curriculum. “You take culture out of society, you have no society,” she warns.