THEATRE REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: Thanks For Having Me starring Kedar Williams-Stirling, Keelan Kember & Nell Tiger Free at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham (Review ticket)

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Opened Wednesday 9 April 2025, runs through 26 April 2025 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)

‘All time spent not being in love is time spent queuing,’ observes writer/star Kember as neurotic overthinker Cashel in this laugh-out-loud funny romantic comedy.

  • Read on for reasons including if you’re looking for a comedy with lots of heart and even more laughs this could be just the ticket for you
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THEATRE REVIEW: Midnight Cowboy starring Max Bowden at the Southwark Playhouse (Elephant)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Saturday 5 April, opens 10 April and runs through 17 May 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

The triple Oscar-winning 1969 film about the unlikely friendship between a male prostitute and his business partner played by Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman is perhaps not the 1st candidate to spring to mind to become a stage musical.

  • Read on for reasons including how you should see this if you’re a fan of Bowden’s because he displayed some serious musical theatre muscle
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THEATRE REVIEW: Manhunt at the Royal Court Theatre by Robert Icke

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN? Saturday 29 March, opens 8 April and runs through 3 May 2025 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (without interval)

What would former England football star Gazza have said to Raoul Moat, the subject of the UK’s largest manhunt, had police let him access the 2010 stand-off?

  • Read on for reasons including how blackout is used well to explain the complicated aftermath of a shooting
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THEATRE REVIEW: Dracula, A Comedy Of Terrors starring Charlie Stemp at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 22 March (matinee), runs through 3 May 2025 RUNTIME: 90 minutes without interval

We were last at this venue for a fantastic revival of Mel Brooks’ The Producers which transfers to the West End this year and the good news about Dracula, A Comedy Of Terrors is that it shares a similarly anarchic comedic quality.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is love at 1st bite if you want a bunch of belly laughs
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THEATRE REVIEW: Otherland starring Jade Anouka & Fizz Sinclair at the Almeida

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Saturday 21 February, runs through 15 March 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The best bit of this unusual story is trans character Harry finding solace on the hill in Greenwich Park straddling the meridian and appreciating a line that only exists because someone says it does.

  • Read on for reasons including how Otherland feels overthought rather than fresh out of the box
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THEATRE REVIEW: Punch at the Young Vic starring David Shields & Julie Hesmondhalgh

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 1 March 2025, runs through 26 April 2025 RUNTIME: 145 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: Transfers to the Apollo Theatre 22 September through 29 November 2025 Tickets

In 2011 Jacob Dunne fatally punched a man in an unprovoked attack and received a two-and-a-half-year custodial sentence for manslaughter of which he served 14 months. 

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the best new play of the year so far
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Seagull starring Cate Blanchett, Emma Corrin & Tanya Reynolds at the Barbican Centre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN? Friday 28 February 2025, runs through 5 April 2025 RUNTIME: 180 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Zachary Hart (The Constituent, Old Vic) plays the besotted Simon Medvedenko, arrives onstage on a quad bike with a guitar and performs Billy Bragg‘s The Milkman Of Human Kindness and we’re already in floods of tears because, like Chekhov’s gun, we know what’s to come.

  • Read on for reasons including how Blanchett’s Arkadina is extraordinarily monstrous without unbalancing this production
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THEATRE REVIEW: Alterations starring Arinze Kene at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Friday 20 February, opens 27 February and runs through 5 April 2025 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (no interval)

Kene (2018’s Best Theatre Actor monsta winner for Misty, Bush Theatre) plays tailor Walker in 70s London with designs on a Carnaby Street business who is part of the Windrush generation negotiating aspiration with loss of community.

  • Read on for reasons including how Alterations is laugh-out-loud funny but also illuminating about difference, ambition and sacrifice
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THEATRE REVIEW: Richard II starring Jonathan Bailey at Bridge Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Monday 10 February, opens 18 February and runs through 10 May 2025 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

Bailey is perhaps best known as Fiyero in film Wicked, nominated for 10 Oscars on 2 March, although we have previously reviewed him in Shakespeare (King Lear, Chichester Festival Theatre) but never as the leading man.

  • Read on for reasons including the parallels between Fiyero and Richard II and how this accessible production could be your gateway to Shakespeare
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THEATRE REVIEW: Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet and Yew starring Omari Douglas at Bush Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 8 February, opens 13 February and runs through 22 March 2025 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Bush Emerging Writers’ Group alumni Coral Wylie (pictured above right) writes and stars as 19-year-old Pip who identifies as non-binary, has dropped out of education and feels misunderstood by their parents.

  • Read on for reasons including how there’s a big heart at the root of the show that deserves nourishing
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