THEATRE REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: Redcliffe starring Jordan Luke Gage at Southwark Playhouse (The Large)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 23 May, opens 27 May and runs through 4 July 2026 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Welcome to the best new musical of 2026 so far with a book, music and lyrics by Jordan Luke Gage who you may have seen leading musicals including Bonnie & Clyde.

  • Read on for reasons including how we fell head over heels in love with the songs and even shed a few tears throughout
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THEATRE REVIEW: High Society starring Helen George, Felicity Kendal, Julian Ovenden & Freddie Fox at Barbican Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 23 May (matinee), opens 3 June and runs through 11 July 2026 and then tours through 14 November 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Helen George (Love In Idleness, Menier) may still be best known for TV’s Call The Midwife and is the central character here as Long Island socialite Tracy Lord planning a June 1938 wedding to accountant George Kittredge.

  • Read on for reasons including how this production maintains the general standard of this venue’s traditional summer musical blockbuster revival
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THEATRE REVIEW: End Of The Rainbow starring Jinx Monsoon at Soho Theatre Walthamstow

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Wednesday 20 May and runs through 11 July 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

There are moments in this glorious restored 1930 venue with its old Hollywood feel that has hosted acts like The Beatles and Buddy Holly where you could be forgiven for thinking Broadway star Jinx Monsoon is Judy Garland.

  • Read on for reasons including how this production is everything this Garland fan dreamed it could be and so much more
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THEATRE REVIEW: Care starring Linda Bassett at the Young Vic

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 13 May, opens 19 May and runs through 11 July 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (no interval)

This is the story of widow and grandmother Joan, played by Linda Bassett (What If I Only, Royal Court), who finds herself in a care home after a fall.

  • Read on for reasons including how this black comedy finds real love, empathy and understanding in the pain and difficulties around impending death
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THEATRE REVIEW: Krapp’s Last Tape starring Gary Oldman at Royal Court Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 9 May, opens 11 May and runs through 30 May 2026 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (including Godot’s To-Do List)

Oscar winner Oldman (Apple’s Slow Horses) directs and stars in this Samuel Beckett monologue which he originally brought to the York Theatre Royal last year, the venue where he made his professional acting debut in 1979.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is a curious choice by an actor we’ve loved light up the big and TV screen
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THEATRE REVIEW: Equus starring Toby Stephens, Amanda Abbington & Noah Valentine at Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 9 May (matinee), opens 18 May and runs through 4 July 2026 RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Inside No 9 and Waterloo Road‘s Noah Valentine follows in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe in baring all as troubled 17-year-old Alan Strang who is blinding horses.

  • Read on for reasons including how this version is so strong we do expect it to transfer to the West End
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THEATRE REVIEW: An Adequate Abridgement Of Boarding School Life As A Homo at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 8 May and runs through 10 May 2026 RUNTIME: 60 minutes (interval)

It’s a tale as old as time but young gay love story Homo is the anti-Heartstopper.

  • Read on for reasons including how Homo gives us neither the easy answer or ties up all of its very many loose ends
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THEATRE REVIEW: 1536 starring Tanya Reynolds, Siena Kelly & Liv Hill at Ambassadors Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Monday 4 May, opens 12 May and runs through 1 August 2026 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (no interval)

You join us in an Essex woodland meeting place in the titular 1536 where 3 young women meet regularly to discuss the news from London about the fall of Queen Anne Boleyn alongside local gossip.

  • Read on for reasons including how 1536 flags its author as 1 of this country’s most exciting new writers
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THEATRE REVIEW: Tender starring Dex Lee at Soho Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 2 May (matinee) and runs through 30 May 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (includes a 20-minute interval)

1 of the joys of the West End is that early casting news means we know Lee, who here bares his washboard abs, bottom and soul as a troubled stripper, will play Prince Charming opposite French and Saunders in Cinderella in the Palladium pantomime this Christmas.

  • Read on for reasons including how giving the audience the opportunity to be complicit in the torture inflicted feels troubling
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THEATRE REVIEW: Please, Please Me starring Calam Lynch & Noah Ritter at Kiln Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Thursday 30 April and runs through 29 May 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The depth of the relationship between John Lennon and Beatles manager Brian Epstein has been much speculated upon and here Calam Lynch and Noah Ritter explore what was certainly an unusually close friendship.

  • Read on for reasons including how it’s the talented cast that is the best reason to see this show
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