By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Saturday 18 November, opens 14 December and runs through 25 August 2024 RUNTIME: 210 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
Season 4 of Netflix hit series Stranger Things is set in 1986 and this spin off play – The First Shadow – turns back the clock in US town Hawkins to 1959.
The 80s-set Netflix sci-fi series of the same name won our 2016 Best TV monsta and so we’re very much looking forward to its theatrical counterpart promising to turn back the clock to Hawkins in 1959 ‘before the world turned upside down’. Stranger Things: The First Shadow invites us to explore the history of Hawkins and the origins of some key characters. Runs at the Phoenix Theatre 17 November through 25 August 2024. Tickets Preview review
By Neil Durham
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
WHEN?: Sunday 5 December 2021, booking until 9 January 2022
RUNTIME: 125 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)
‘I think you know the story of Dick Whittington better than we do,’ says RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 1 star Cheryl Hole, lead in this adult pantomime, to the audience at its finale and it would be difficult to disagree.
We’ve seen the Palladium’s annual pantomime in each of its 5 years and last year’s run was cruelly cut very short by Covid and so it is with some relief that we can report it is returning in 2021 with much of its now familiar variety-based cast but with Donny Osmond and The Tiller Girls added this Christmas. We’re big fans of Julian Clary and it’s a real treat to see him absolutely in his element. Last year we said: ‘Clary is a master of improvisation and the rest of the cast are clearly trying to stifle their own laughing often and, when Yarrow dries, Clary references Stemp in Mary Poppins saying ‘Charlie’s chimney’s never dry’.’ Runs 4 December 2021 through 9 January 2022. Tickets
We awarded 14 monstas for the best pop, theatre, TV and film of 2018 in December – and here we look at the cream of 2019 so far and what’s to come. Eugenius, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Groundhog Day are previous winners in this category.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE? RUNTIME: 100 minutes (no interval)
WHEN? 9/2/19 (matinee), opens 18/2/19, booking until 14/9/19
‘Come from aways’ is a Newfoundland description for visitors from beyond the island and this is the story of what happened in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when 38 planes were grounded there and the community embraced the outsiders.
Anderson was unforgettable in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic in 2014 and James was unmissable on film in 2018 for work including Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Runs at the Noel Coward Theatre from 2/2 to 11/5/19. Tickets
Martin McDonagh features twice in this list and wrote/directed the Oscar-winning film Three Billboards in 2018. We were at the 2nd preview for this new play at the Bridge Theatre and weren’t keen: ‘Our problem with A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter is that, while McDonagh could be argued to be skewering the lazy racism of 18th Century Europe of the time, it makes for a very uncomfortable and politically incorrect watch in 2018.’
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE?: Phoenix Theatre WHEN?: 13/8, Ms Burke appearing until 14/10/18
RUN TIME: 2 hours and 20 minutes (including 20-minute interval)
She may now no longer be playing the Palladium in September but she was the best thing about Chess at the Coliseum this year and now she stars as Roxie in Chicago at the Phoenix Theatre 13/8 through 14/10. Tickets
