REVIEW

THEATRE REVIEW: TRU starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 19 September, opens 27 September and runs through 14 November 2026 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)

You join us in the New York apartment belonging to writer Truman Capote at Christmas in 1975 as Manhattan socialites who were once his confidants turn their backs on him when they recognise thinly-veiled versions of themselves in an excerpt of his new novel published in Esquire magazine.

  • Read on for reasons including how TRU boasts a commanding central performance of 1 of history’s more colourful if perhaps occasionally loathed characters
Read More

GIG REVIEW Saint Etienne at Camden Roundhouse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Friday 18 September, tour runs through 1 December 2026

Setlist: Tonight; Like A Motorway; Spring; Glad; You’re In A Bad Way; Shower Scene; Who Do You Think You Are?; Heart Failed (In The Back Of A Taxi); Pale Movie; Brand New Me; Mario’s Cafe; Take Me To The Pilot; Only Love Can Break Your Heart; DJ; Stormtrooper In Drag; He’s On The Phone/7 Ways To Love; Nothing Can Stop Us; The Last Time

Never has a band understood its fans better and reflected it back.

  • Read on for reasons including why this should be au revoir to Saint Etienne not adieu
Read More

FILM OF THE MONTH: Pressure starring Andrew Scott & Brendan Fraser (September 2026)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

Andrew Scott (All Of Us Strangers) plays meteorologist James Stagg appointed by Churchill to advise Fraser’s Eisenhower when best to launch the Normandy landings to ensure success during World War Two.

  • Read on for reasons including how Pressure is a crowdpleaser despite its controversy and Scott’s reputation as 1 of this country’s hottest young acting talents remains undimmed
Read More

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Live! by Pulp (week beginning Wednesday 9 September 2026)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

Tracklist: Spike Island; Slow Jam; Sorted For Es And Whizz; Disco 2000; Help The Aged; Farmers’ Market; This Is Hardcore; Sunrise; Something’s Changed; Grown Ups; O.U.; Do You Remember The First Time?; Mis-Shapes; Got To Have Love; Babies; Common People; A Sunset

Actress Kelly Macdonald, arguably best known for 1996’s iconic Trainspotting, welcomes this encore performance and bids the audience farewell with a charming: ‘Goodnight and safe travels – and remember, take care of each other.’

  • Read on for reasons including how this is the story of pop’s greatest resurrection of recent years
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: Kimberly Akimbo starring Maria Friedman at Hampstead Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 29 August, opens Wednesday 9 September and and runs through 7 November 2026 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The key to the success of this Tony Award-winning musical is the casting of its leading lady who can convince as a 16-year-old ageing four times more quickly than her peers and as the pensioner she physically appears to be.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is is filled with joy, love and laughs even at its tear-spattered finale
Read More

THEATRE REVIEW: The Story starring Letitia Wright & Lorraine Toussaint at National Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Friday 28 August, opens 3 September and runs through 24 October 2026 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The best thing about this revival of a 2003 US play inspired by a 1981 scandal in which a journalist won a Pulitzer Prize for writing about an inner city child only to later admit the story was fraudulent is the promising performance of Letitia Wright (pictured centre above) at its heart.

  • Read on for reasons including why today’s UK headlines would be a more relevant place for this venue to seek to represent the population it should be serving
Read More