THEATRE REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: Dancing At Lughnasa starring Siobhan McSweeney, Louisa Harland & Ardal O’Hanlon at National Theatre

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By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 8 April, opens Tuesday 18 April runs through 27 May 2023 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Our narrator is actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who plays Michael, the unseen seven-year-old boy who is being raised by the Mundy sisters in County Donegal in 1936.

  • Read on for reasons including how the cast includes 3 of Channel 4’s hit comedy Derry Girls
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THEATRE REVIEW: Eugenius at Turbine Theatre

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 2 April (matinee), runs through 28 May 2023 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Time travel back to October 2018 and this superhero musical was on the verge of a West End transfer which never materialised when a backer withdrew.

  • Read on for reasons including how this focused revival could propel this superhero musical into the West End finally
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THEATRE REVIEW: Marjorie Prime starring Anne Reid, Nancy Carroll, Tony Jayawardena & Richard Fleeshman at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 1 April, running to 6 May 2023 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)

In the week when we are mourning the loss of 67-year-old Paul O’Grady this new play about memory, loss and grieving starring Anne Reid (pictured right) feels like appropriate viewing.

  • Read on for reasons including how director Dominic Dromgoole brings the best out of Reid
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THEATRE REVIEW: Cabaret starring Aimee Lou Wood & Jon McCrea at The Kit Kat Club

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***** RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including 20-minute interval)

WHEN?: Saturday 25 March, booking to 16 December 2023

It’s a sign of the quality of this production that despite 3 major cast changes it continues to punch at the very top of its weight.

  • Read on for reasons including how Sex Education’s Aimee Lee Wood’s hilarious turn as Sally Bowles is the best reason to catch this Cabaret
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Way Old Friends Do at Park Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 18 March (matinee), runs through 15 April 2023, then tours at venues until 10 June 2023 Update: Transfers to the West End and the Criterion Theatre 17 August through 9 September 2023 Tickets

The best bit in this new comedy written by its star Ian Hallard (Closer To Heaven, Above The Stag) is the reaction of his character’s Nan to his news that he is bisexual at the close of Act 1.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is the best time of year to see this show about the world’s 1st ABBA drag tribute act
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THEATRE REVIEW: Medea starring Sophie Okonedo @sohoplace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: 25 February (matinee) and runs through 22 April 2023 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

We’re in the front row of this intimate venue and Okonedo’s Medea points at us, locks eyes with us and asserts: ‘Watch and keep silent.’

  • Read on for reasons including how members of the cast sit in the audience and call out to those on stage in this production
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THEATRE REVIEW: Guys And Dolls starring Marisha Wallace & Daniel Mays at Bridge Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: 3 March, opens 13 March and runs through 2 September 2023 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 15-minute interval) UPDATE: This production is now booking through 31 August 2024 Tickets

Marisha Wallace is scene-stealingly sensational in this revival of a musical theatre classic as nightclub singer Miss Adelaide, a role often played for laughs rather than deploying the killer voice Wallace has.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is 1 of the best revivals of a show we have ever seen
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THEATRE REVIEW: Romeo and Julie starring Callum Scott Howells and Rosie Sheehy at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: 18 February, opens 21 February and runs through 1 April 2023 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Callum Scott Howells (Cabaret. Playhouse Theatre) proves what a versatile actor he is in this story of a single young father struggling to bring up a young child and cope with an alcoholic mother.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is really the story of the injustices of the education system
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THEATRE REVIEW: Shirley Valentine starring Sheridan Smith at the Duke Of York’s Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: 17 February, runs through 3 June 2023 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The moment we know we’re in the presence of comedy genius is when something unexpected happens – a sink in the kitchen set overflows and threatens to drench the front row tonight – and Smith acknowledges it, laughs with it yet never breaks character.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is the funniest comedy now running in the West End
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THEATRE REVIEW: Standing At The Sky’s Edge at the National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: 11 February, opens 13 February and runs through 25 March 2023 RUNTIME: 170 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) UPDATE: Standing won 2 Olivier Awards and transfers to the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End in February 2024

It’s not very often at the theatre that we cry so uncontrollably that we worry we might embarass ourselves.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is London’s best new musical
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