By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 18 November, opens 14 December and runs through 25 August 2024 RUNTIME: 210 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
Season 4 of Netflix hit series Stranger Things is set in 1986 and this spin off play – The First Shadow – turns back the clock in US town Hawkins to 1959.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Friday 17 November, opens 25 November and runs through 6 January 2024 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)
You join us in 1945 in Andalusia, Spain in the titular home of Walter’s Bernarda Alba as she and her 5 daughters mourn the loss of her husband and their father.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 11 November, opens 15 November and runs through 23 December 2023 RUNTIME: 65 minutes (no interval)
Samuel Barnett (Allelujah!, Bridge Theatre) plays a stand-up comedian performing a 65-minute monologue about the sex life of a gay 36-year-old northerner living in London.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Thursday 9 November, opens 16 November and runs through 20 January 2024 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 15-minute interval) UPDATE: Transfers to the Criterion Theatre 4 April to 14 July 2024 Tickets
Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty follows his turn in Dear Evan Hansen as 25-year-old Brit Dougal in New York for the 1st time for the wedding of the father he’s never met.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Tuesday 31 October, runs through 5 November 2023 Then touring Europe including the UK and booking currently until 31 March 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
It’s Halloween night, we’re in the middle of the 3rd row at this 1,700-capacity cinema/theatre celebrating its 100th birthday to watch a musical 1st seen upstairs at London’s Royal Court Theatre in June 1973.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 21 October (matinee), runs through 11 November 2023 RUNTIME: 75 minutes (no interval)
We’re here in our front row seat at this 240-capacity venue because we loved Memon in Richard Hawley’s Standing At The Sky’s Edge for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress in a Musical Olivier.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 21 October, opens 31 October and runs through 9 December 2023 RUNTIME: 120 minutes without interval
At 62 years old director Branagh is considerably younger than the last 2 actors we’ve seen take on the role of Shakespeare’s King Lear – Sir Ian McKellen who was 78 in 2017 and the late Glenda Jackson 80 in 2016.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 14 October, opens 19 October runs through 4 November 2023 RUNTIME: 80 minutes (no interval)
Lucas was shortlisted for Best Actress In A Musical at the 2023 Oliviers for her role in the reimagining of musical Oklahoma! which we saw at the Young Vic before it transferred into the West End.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Saturday 14 October (matinee), runs through 13 January 2024 RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
As the men’s England football team prepares for a crucial EURO 24 game against Italy on Tuesday (17 October 2023), James Graham’s latest play about Gareth Southgate’s reign as manager transfers to the West End.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: **** RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
WHEN?: Saturday 7 October (matinee), runs until 7 October 2023 Then Leeds Playhouse 18-28 October Tickets & HOME Manchester 31 October – 11 November 2023 Tickets
We took our 1st tentative steps out of the closet in Devon in 1993, the year that this Jonathan Harvey (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s Theatre) play premiered at London’s Bush Theatre starring Jonny Lee Miller.
