reviews

THEATRE REVIEW: Mamma Mia at Teatre Tivoli, Barcelona

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Sunday 1 November 2026 and runs through 24 January 2027 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s hard to go wrong when your jukebox musical includes songs of the calibre of the titular Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All even if in Spanish when it’s only the viewer’s 2nd language.

  • Read on for reasons including how this behemoth has now played in more than 60 countries across 6 continents
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Hunger Games: On Stage at Troubadour Canary Wharf

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: **

WHEN?: Friday 2 October 2026, booking through 17 October 2027

It must have all looked so promising on paper.

  • Read on for reasons including how we’re in the front row but couldn’t feel further from this uninvolving spectacle lacking in emotion
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Pianist starring Daniel Krikler at the Park Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 17 October, opens 22 October and runs through 28 November 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

This is the new musical version of the life of Polish-Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman during World War 2, a story which won 3 Oscars in its 2002 celluloid incarnation starring Adrien Brody.

  • Read on for reasons including how we’re here for monsta-longlisted star Daniel Krikler
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Danceteria by Soft Cell (October 2026)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

Tracklist: Elusive; Danceteria; The Space Inside; Times Square; Two Of A Kind; The Rainbow Room; In Heaven (When I Dance With You); Decadence Is Hard Work; Crackland; What Is Your Morality?; Losing Yourself; After Hours; Wave To America; Out Come The Freaks

Keyboardist Dave Ball died last October shortly after finishing work on Soft Cell’s final album which sees them perfecting some of the best work of their career while lyrically returning to early 80s New York, a pivotal time for the duo.

  • Read on for reasons including Danceteria is a wildly entertaining, reflective and fitting epitaph to both Soft Cell and Dave Ball
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THEATRE REVIEW: RENT The Musical starring Gaten Matarazzo at Tom Stoppard’s Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 30 September, opens 8 October and runs through 27 March 2027 RUNTIME: 175 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Matarazzo from Netflix’s Stranger Things is cast perfectly as Mark the filmmaker chronicling the lives of bohemian friends in the late 80s/early 90s in New York’s East Village in this classic musical revival.

  • Read on for reasons including how brilliant the onstage seating experience is for this production
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THEATRE REVIEW Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? starring Gillian Anderson @SohoPlace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 26 September, opens 30 September and runs through 19 December 2026 RUNTIME: 210 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Gillian Anderson gave us the definitive Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic on a revolving stage a decade ago and here performs a similar trick as Martha.

  • Read on for reasons including how Anderson’s performance is 1 for the history books as she gives an unforgettable take on a classic role
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THEATRE REVIEW Golden Boy starring Josh O’Connor at Almeida Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

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

WHEN?: Saturday 19 September (matinee), runs through 31 October 2026 RUNTIME: 145 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Boxing or playing the violin?

  • Read on for reasons including how to see this on NT Live if not at the sold-out Almeida
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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
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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
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