THEATRE REVIEW

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
Read More

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
Read More

LAST NIGHT: THEATRE REVIEW: Till The Stars Come Down at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 16 March 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval) Update: Transfers to the Theatre Royal Haymarket 1 July through 27 September 2025 Tickets

‘I’m not leaving. I haven’t danced the Macarena yet,’ says the quite brilliant Olivier Awards-nominated Lorraine Ashbourne (main picture, right) playing drunken Auntie Carol who is being ushered towards a taxi from her niece’s wedding.

  • Read on for reasons including how the campaign for this hilarious comedy to reach a wider audience starts now
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Opening Night starring Sheridan Smith at the Gielgud Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Monday 11 March 2024, opens 26 March and runs through 27 July 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Hats off to Sheridan Smith (Shirley Valentine, Duke Of York’s Theatre) for fully embracing the role of the leading lady who turns up drunk for her opening night because that must feel uncomfortably close to home.

  • Read on for reasons including how Smith needed more memorable songs to make this show fly
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Cable Street at Southwark Playhouse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Tuesday 27 February and runs through 16 March 2024 RUNTIME: 145 minutes (with a 20 minute interval) UPDATE: This production transfers to Southwark Playhouse (Elephant) 6 September through 10 October 2024 Tickets

You join us on 4 October 1936 in the East End’s Cable Street where its community of socialists, communists, Jews and Irish people refuse to let Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) pass.

  • Read on for reasons including how to get tickets for this sold-out run
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Nye starring Michael Sheen at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 24 February, opens 6 March and runs through 11 May 2024 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Ticket update: Nye returns for a 2nd run at the National 3 July through 16 August 2025 Tickets

A grieving son wraps his dying miner father in his arms, apologises for everything he could have done better to look after him and vows to make good by helping others.

  • Read on for reasons including how Nye offers insight into a man who shaped our country and influenced the people we became
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Human Body starring Keeley Hawes & Jack Davenport at the Donmar

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Monday 19 February and runs through 13 April 2024 RUNTIME: 190 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s 1948 and Keeley Hawes (TV’s  It’s A Sin) is GP, housewife and budding MP Iris Elcock who is working all hours to create Nye Bevan’s National Health Service.

  • Read on for reasons including how this drama is beautifully crafted and staged
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Shifters starring Tosin Cole at the Bush Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 17 February, opens 23 February and runs through 30 March 2024 RUNTIME: 105 minutes (no interval) Update: Transfers to the Duke Of York’s Theatre 12 August through 12 October 2024 Tickets

Tosin Cole’s Dre and Heather Agyepong’s Des are soul-mates and we follow them over 16 years from their teens to adulthood.

  • Read on for reasons including how we were reminded of Constellations by the fragmented storytelling
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Standing At The Sky’s Edge at the Gillian Lynne Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 17 February (matinee), opens Wednesday 28 February and runs through 3 August 2024 RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

As we write, Labour appears on the cusp of reclaiming power in the UK for the 1st time in 14 years and we suspect those characters onstage in Richard Hawley’s Standing On The Sky’s Edge would be pleased.

  • Read on for reasons including why Standing At The Sky’s Edge is the West End’s biggest weepie
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Pacific Overtures at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Sunday 28 January (matinee), runs through 25 February 2024 RUNTIME: 105 minutes without interval

We promised ourselves we’d seek out more Sondheim after catching the glorious Old Friends starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga in London’s West End late last year.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is a strong production of a rarely performed work
Read More