THEATRE REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: Minority Report at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 20 April, opens 29 April and runs through 18 May 2024 RUNTIME: 90 minutes without interval

A Philip K Dick short story, a Spielberg film starring Tom Cruise and now a play re-imagined by a well-known British actor but does it already know it’s transferring to the West End after this run?

  • Read on for reasons including how this is an adrenaline rush of visual spectacle and intellectual stimulation that is fully deserving of a West End transfer
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THEATRE REVIEW: Coming Clean at the Turbine Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Wednesday 17 April and runs through 27 April 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

Struggling writer Tony is in a relationship with the more successful author Greg and would rather devote time to his career than keep their Kentish Town flat spick and span so employs a cleaner.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is a barrel of laughs but also shines a light on the suitability of the gay marriage legislation that was to come
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THEATRE REVIEW: London Tide at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 10 April 2024, opens 17 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 205 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

PJ Harvey has written 13 new tracks which are sung by the cast here in this ‘play with songs’ which adapts Dickens’ last novel Our Mutual Friend.

  • Read on for reasons including how the songs are understated, dark, brooding yet hauntingly beautiful
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THEATRE REVIEW: Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) starring Sam Tutty & Dujonna Gift at The Criterion

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Sunday 7 April, opens 23 April and runs through 14 July 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: run extended through 31 August 2024

If you’re here because leading man Sam Tutty won a Best Actor In A Musical Olivier Award for Dear Evan Hansen, sit down, sip on a coffee and stay a while because he’s a good reason but not the best 1 to see this new musical.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the story of an unlikely couple saving each other when they least expect it
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THEATRE REVIEW: Player Kings starring Sir Ian McKellen at the Noel Coward Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 6 April 2024, opens 11 April and runs through 22 June 2024 RUNTIME: 220 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

McKellen (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) dons a fatsuit and gives the performance of a lifetime as Falstaff in writer/director Robert Icke’s (Oresteia and Hamlet, Almeida) combination of Shakespeare’s  Henry IV parts 1 and 2.

  • Read on for reasons including how you should grab the chance to see McKellen on stage while you have the chance
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THEATRE REVIEW: Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 23 March 2024 (matinee), runs through 22 December 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

This production faces stiff competition from Guys And Dolls (Bridge Theatre), Groundhog Day (Old Vic) and Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre) for the Best Musical Theatre revival at this month’s Olivier Awards.

  • Read on for reasons including how performers including Gloria Onitiri and Melanie La Barrie are a treat
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THEATRE REVIEW: Police Cops: The Musical at Southwark Playhouse (Elephant)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 29 March 2024, runs through 20 April 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Film franchise The Naked Gun is probably the closest touchstone for this 80s, US-set musical co-written by Ben Adams (Eugenius, Turbine Theatre) from A1 and Subwoolfer.

  • Read on for reasons including how this spoof comedy music could well arrest you
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THEATRE REVIEW: Power Of Sail starring Julian Ovenden & Giles Terera at the Menier

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

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

WHEN?: Wednesday 27 March 2024, runs through 12 May 2024 RUNTIME: 105 minutes (no interval)

The artwork (main picture) transforming the titular white sail with 2 eye holes into an image to strike fear into hearts isn’t the only subtlety in this play about an American university lecturer and boating enthusiast who invites a white nationalist to speak there.

  • Read on for reasons including how Power Of Sail is unafraid to question the motives of those on both left and right
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THEATRE REVIEW: King Lear starring Danny Sapani & Clarke Peters at the Almeida

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 23 March and runs through 30 March 2024 RUNTIME: 215 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

‘Out, vile jelly!’ We’re in the front row at this intimate venue and Gloucester’s bloody, gouged-out eye rolls across the stage towards us in the 1st King Lear we’ve seen since Kenneth Branagh’s in the West End late last year.

  • Read on for reasons including how it is Lear’s interaction with his Fool which is most insightful here
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THEATRE REVIEW: My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 16 March 2024, runs through 23 March 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: This production transfers to the Gillian Lynne Theatre 8 March through 2 November 2025 Tickets

The remaining week of performances for this Royal Shakespeare Company and Joe Hisaishi production of the 6 Olivier Award-winning stage version of the beloved 1988 Studio Ghibli film are sold out and we wouldn’t be surprised if it returns to London for another run soon.

  • Read on for reasons including how this contains some of the finest puppetry we have ever seen
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