By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
2023 has already been an incredible year for Paul Mescal with a Best Actor Olivier and Oscar nomination under his belt, although film God’s Creatures is very much for the Mescal completists.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 8 April (matinee), runs through 5 August 2023 RUNTIME: 220 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
It’s hard for us to appreciate the popularity of this play because it is based on a best-selling 2015 book by Hanya Yanigihara we’ve not read and stars a much in-demand actor we’re not especially a fan of.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHEN?: Saturday 8 April, opens Tuesday 18 April runs through 27 May 2023 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
Our narrator is actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who plays Michael, the unseen seven-year-old boy who is being raised by the Mundy sisters in County Donegal in 1936.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Sunday 2 April (matinee), runs through 28 May 2023 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
Time travel back to October 2018 and this superhero musical was on the verge of a West End transfer which never materialised when a backer withdrew.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 1 April, running to 6 May 2023 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)
In the week when we are mourning the loss of 67-year-old Paul O’Grady this new play about memory, loss and grieving starring Anne Reid (pictured right) feels like appropriate viewing.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
We saw rising star Ducrot live last month at Camden’s KOKO and the predominantly young 20-something female audience gasped when he explained the inspiration behind this song about a close friend who took his own life.
By Neil Durham
WHEN?: 8pm Thursday 11 May 2023
WHERE?: Liverpool Arena
HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC
The big favourites are in Semi 1 which makes Semi 2 far tougher to call with many live performances of these songs still to be seen.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***** RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
WHEN?: Saturday 25 March, booking to 16 December 2023
It’s a sign of the quality of this production that despite 3 major cast changes it continues to punch at the very top of its weight.
Siobhan McSweeney (The Alchemist, Barbican Theatre) and Louisa Harland (Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp, Royal Court) may be best known as Sister Michael and Orla McCool from Channel 4’s Derry Girls but here they reunite onstage with fellow cast member Ardal O’Hanlon in Brian Friel’s (Translations, National Theatre) 1936-set County Donegal tale of the Mundy sisters battling poverty to raise seven-year-old Michael and care for their uncle Jack. Runs 6 April through 27 May 2023. Tickets Review
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 18 March (matinee), runs through 15 April 2023, then tours at venues until 10 June 2023
The best bit in this new comedy written by its star Ian Hallard (Closer To Heaven, Above The Stag) is the reaction of his character’s Nan to his news that he is bisexual at the close of Act 1.
monstagigz 