travel

THEATRE REVIEW: The Lives Of Others starring Keira Knightley and Luke Thompson at the Adelphi Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Friday 16 October, opens 29 October and runs through 28 November 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (no interval)

Adapter/director Robert Icke’s most recent leading ladies have gone on to awards success including Sadie Sink (Stage Debut Award for Romeo and Juliet) and a Best Actress Olivier and Tony for Lesley Manville (Oedipus)

  • Read on for reasons including how Keira Knightley was last on stage in 2011
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FILM REVIEW: Ink starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce & Claire Foy at the London Film Festival

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Official UK release date: 8 January 2027 RUNTIME: 116 minutes

Ink very much positions itself as the precursor to HBO’s much-garlanded TV series Succession which was thought by many to have been inspired by Rupert Murdoch and his family’s fight for control of a global media and entertainment conglomerate.

  • Read on for reasons including how we look forward already to the awards glory Ink seems set for early next year
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THEATRE REVIEW: Ilford Boy starring Leo Whitfield Harris, Craig Stein, Ria Zmitrowicz & Lindsey Coulson at the Donmar Warehouse

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Monday 12 October, opens 20 October and runs through 28 November 2026 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s the day of his nan’s funeral and impressionable 14-year-old Ted meets his mum’s gay best friend and suddenly his world doesn’t feel so lonely.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is 1 of the best new plays of the year so far
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AWARDS SHORTLIST: MONSTAS: Best Venue of 2026

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

It’s been quite the year, it’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2026? Over the next 3 months we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 17 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2026.

Read on for the nominees for the monsta for Best Venue Previous winners 2025 London Palladium; 2024 @SohoPlace 2023 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, 2022: The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre for Cabaret Tickets Review 1 2021: Gillian Lynne Theatre 2020: Bridge Theatre, 2019: Old Vic, 2018: Bush Theatre

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THEATRE REVIEW: Martin Guerre starring Liv Andrusier and Shane O’Riordan at the Old Vic

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Friday 9 October, opens 20 October and runs through 31 October 2026 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

The best reason to see this re-imagined revival of Martin Guerre is to hear new song Someday (watch and listen below) which very much reminds of Schönberg and Boublil’s best loved work Les Miserables thanks in part to Liv Andrusier’s beautiful vocal.

  • Read on for reasons including how Martin Guerre is a bit of a damp squib on which to end Warchus’ firework-filled reign at this iconic venue
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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
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GIG REVIEW Family Stereo & Kathi Deakin at The Lexington, London

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Thursday 17 September, tour runs through 24 September 2026

Setlist: Remedy; Waiting On Nina; Fault Lines; The Thread; I Don’t Need Light; From Here To Nowhere; Three Moon Trail; Removed; Matter; Early Promise; DLR

Family Stereo ‘folkish rockery’ frontman Blake Watt is reflecting on this, his band’s 1st sell-out London show, and tells an amusing story about ‘survivors’ guilt’.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see Family Stereo next on tour
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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
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