WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
Singer Elliot Hall (pictured below left) may be nicknamed Welly but this new single feels very much that it is showcasing the strengths of the 5-strong band.
You, dear reader, are given the chance to vote in 17 categories from October this year to tell us your favourite theatre, music, TV, film and podcast of 2024.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****/*****/****
WHEN?: Saturday 24 August and runs through 28 September 2024 RUNTIME: 3 successive 100-minute plays without interval
Paapa Essiedu (The Effect, National Theatre) plays Delroy in the 2nd of these intertwined state-of-the-nation dramas and it’s a performance so electric it draws an immediate standing ovation from an audience including Pedro Pascal and Russell Tovey (Constellations, Vaudeville Theatre) who are sitting together near our front row seat.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN?: Thursday 29 August and runs through 13 February 2025 RUNTIME: 145 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: now closing 19 January 2025
It’s such a simple idea – 2 best friends on a sofa discussing their lack of romantic success as big song and dance numbers break out all around and starring them – that it really shouldn’t work.
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: Sunday 25 August 2024 (press ticket)
It’s getting harder every year to get down early for the good bands. Day Three seems to be in reverse, with our best bands on at the beginning on the Castle Stage.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHEN?: Sunday 25 August 2024 (press ticket)
We’re here because we want to see Isle Of Wight’s Wet Leg play almost on home turf after a meteoric rise to success but sometimes festivals surprise you and so it is with the 1st act we catch on the Castle Stage, Cardiff’s very own Panic Shack (pictured).
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: Saturday 24 August, Victorious runs through Sunday 25 August 2024 (press pass)
90steachergirl was right. It was Busted who were the secret set. As much as there was love for them, it seemed a tad obvious after McFly last year.
By Aline Mahrud
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Friday 23 August, opens 3 September and runs through 26 October 2024 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
The best thing about Max Webster’s (Minority Report, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith) production of this revered comedy is the ridiculous performance of McArdle (pictured left, The Tragedy Of Macbeth, Almeida Theatre) who won our 2021 Best Theatre Actor monsta.
By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum
WHEN?: Friday 23 August 2024, festival runs through Sunday 25 August 2024 (press pass)
Storm Lilian didn’t have a ticket, but she certainly queued up all night to get in.
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2
WHEN?: Tuesday 20 August 2024, show also runs twice on 27 August 2024. RUNTIME: 60 minutes (no interval)
Malone won this year’s Olivier for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Operation Mincemeat and here encores with the best song from that show Dear Bill.
