THEATRE REVIEW: Bluets starring Ben Whishaw & Emma D’Arcy at the Royal Court

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 18 May 2024, opens 24 May and runs through 29 June 2024 RUNTIME: 80 minutes (no interval)

Whishaw is perhaps best known as the voice of Paddington bear or the face of Q in the Bond films and last trod London’s theatre boards in Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre in 2018.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is a a cult piece with the occasional laugh which many may find absorbing yet offputting
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GIG REVIEW: Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey at the IndigO2

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

SETLIST: In The Name Of Love; Science Fiction; Lies; Lay Your Hands On Me; Runaway; If You Were Here; Shooting Star; Psycho Killer; The Gap; Day After Day; Sister Of Mercy; No Peace For The Wicked; You Take Me Up; Who Can Stop the Rain; Doctor! Doctor!; Hold Me Now; We Are Detective; Storm On The Sea; Love On Your Side

WHEN?: Friday 17 May 2024, tour runs through 28 July 2024

We tell Bailey before this gig that the 1st concert we ever went to was the Thompson Twins at the old Hammersmith Odeon, now the Eventim Apollo, on our 14th birthday 40 years ago and he’s genuinely thrilled.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the most comprehensive set we’ve seen Bailey give
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THEATRE REVIEW: Passing Strange starring Giles Terera at the Young Vic

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 15 May, opens 21 May and running through 6 July 2024 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Spring into summer feels like the perfect time for this coming-of-age musical with a sting in its tail to debut in London about an African American youngster – the Youth – who flees to Europe to find himself through sex, drugs and protest art.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is entertaining and thought-provoking and well worth your time
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FILM REVIEW: Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor & Mike Faist

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this story of a love (match) triangle with a tennis backdrop is that its screenplay was written by Justin Kuritzkes whose wife Celine Song was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Past Lives, our film of 2023.

  • Read on for reasons including its success in making tennis riveting and occasionally raunchy
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa (May 2024)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

TRACKLIST: End Of An Era; Houdini; Training Season; These Walls; Watcha Doing; French Exit; Illusion; Falling Forever; Anything For Love; Maria; Happy For You

Next month Dua Lipa headlines the Friday night on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival and this album appears very much to have been written with that career-defining moment in mind.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is exactly the sort of album she needs under her belt to make Glastonbury successful
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THEATRE REVIEW: John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play starring Adam Jackson-Smith & Anna Jayne Casey at the Apollo Theatre

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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
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FILM REVIEW: Back To Black starring Marisa Abela, Jack O’Connell, Lesley Manville & Eddie Marsan

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By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

We only saw Amy Winehouse live once at what is now the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, in late 2007 where she arrived late, slurred throughout and didn’t get a great reception from a disappointed crowd.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is Amy – the love story
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Comeuppance at the Almeida

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

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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
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