West made his London stage debut in February 1989 at the Orange Tree Theatre, playing Michael in Cocteau's "Les Parents Terribles", of which critic John Thaxter wrote: "He invests the role with a warmth and validity that silences sniggers that could so easily greet a lesser performance of this difficult role, and he lets us share the tumbling emotions of a juvenile torn between romantic first love and filial duty." Since then, West has appeared frequently on stage; he played Valentine in the first ever production of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" at the National Theatre in 1993 and later spent two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing the title roles in "Richard II" and "Hamlet", both directed by Steven Pimlott.