Matthew Dunster

THEATRE REVIEW: Red Speedo starring Finn Cole at Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Friday 9 August and runs through 10 August 2024 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (without interval)

Professional stage debuts are always exposing but Cole from TV’s Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom completes his in only 2 pairs of the titular swimming trunks.

  • Read on for reasons including how Red Speedo is an intense highboard dive into a world where the stakes are high and the emotions heightened
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Homecoming starring Jared Harris & Joe Cole at the Young Vic

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Monday 18 December, runs through 27 January 2024

This Pinter play celebrates its 60th birthday this year and it invites us into a 1964 working class London living room which is the very definition of what we would now call ‘toxic masculinity’.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is an uncomfortable watch but that’s probably the point
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9 reasons why we can’t wait for December 2023 starring Jennifer Saunders in Peter Pan

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

  1. Jennifer Saunders and Julian Clary in the Palladium pantomime

7 years ago Julian Clary starred opposite Paul O’Grady in pantomime Cinderella at this venue in a production that marked a return of the form to a theatre previously renowned for it. We’ve loved the shows that have followed, Dick Whittington, Snow White, Goldilocks, and Pantoland at the Palladium, in both 2020 and 2021, and Jack And The Beanstalk starring Dawn French in 2022. French’s comedy partner Jennifer Saunders stars here alongside Clary and My Son’s A Queer‘s Rob Madge. Runs 9 December through 14 January 2024. Tickets Our review

  • Read on for reasons including David Tennant’s Macbeth, Joe Cole’s Homecoming and new musical Cold War
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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: True West starring Kit Harington & Johnny Flynn

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE? Vaudeville Theatre RUN TIME: 2 hours (including interval)

WHEN?: 24/11, press night 3/12, runs to 23/2/19

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington last appeared on a West End stage two-and-a-half years ago and we wrote then how a very young audience whooped with delight at his performance.

  • Read on for reasons including why it is Johnny Flynn who you will remember most after this

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