THEATRE REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play starring Adam Jackson-Smith & Anna Jayne Casey at the Apollo Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 4 May, opens 15 May and runs through 28 September 2024 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: Extended through 4 January 2025

In an era where box sets are king and series with multiple episodes are the norm it seems scarcely believable that beloved 70s, Torquay-set sitcom Fawlty Towers mustered just 12 episodes.

  • Read on for reasons including how theatre is the natural setting for this superior farce
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Comeuppance at the Almeida

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 27 April 2024, runs through 18 May 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (no interval)

A revival of playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ 2014 play Appropriate starring Sarah Paulson is tipped to earn multiple Tony nominations tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April 2024).

  • Read on for reasons including how Jacobs-Jenkins is fast becoming 1 of the world’s most interesting young playwrights
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Picture Of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook at Theatre Royal Haymarket

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHEN?: Saturday 27 April 2024 and runs through 11 May 2024 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (without interval)

The tech breaks down after 40 minutes, the spell is broken, the show is paused and we leave never to return.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is the emperor’s new clothes of theatre
Read More

LAST NIGHT THEATRE REVIEW: Nachtland starring Jane Horrocks & John Heffernan at the Young Vic

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 20 April (matinee) and runs through 20 April 2024

What would you do if you found a painting apparently by Hitler in the attic of your dead father-in-law’s home while clearing it?

  • Read on for reasons including how Nachtland poses lots of difficult questions with answers ranging from the unpalatable to the freakishly bizarre
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More