Theatremonkey

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Ride The Cyclone – The Musical (Southwark Playhouse, Elephant)

30 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 30th July 2026) Sometimes the monkey gets a run of shows sharing similar themes. This week, “Cats” on Monday, “Ride The Cyclone” today. Both deal with choosing who gets to be reincarnated. This show is a lot shorter, and considerably less cute – but judging by the reaction from […]

Abigail’s Party (Richmond Theatre) and touring

27 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 25th July 2026) Anthropology was the fashionable subject to study at university in the 1970s. This slice of human behavioural study is a fine example of this introspective decade. The play started life at the original Hampstead Theatre Club in 1977, but is best known as a BBC TV […]

Midnight at The Never Get (Menier Chocolate Factory)

21 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon preview performance on 18th July 2026) If the theatre gods are kind, this afternoon will – in time to come – be one of those “I was there at the start” moments. Just like the original audiences of “Oklahoma,” “Cats” and “Operation Mincemeat.” This is theatre history in the making. According […]

Black Comedy (Orange Tree Theatre)

11 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 11th July 2026) Fresh from the bleakness that is “Equus” at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the monkey finally ticks off the elusive “Black Comedy” from the same thrillingly theatrical mind of Peter Shaffer. Written for the National Theatre’s 1965 Chichester season, it literally leaves our cast in the dark […]

Relics (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith)

4 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 4th July 2026) Ben Ockrent’s latest play has four siblings clearing their late mother’s house and dividing her possessions. Jonny (JJ Field) wants a small painting. SPOILER ALERT: His antique dealer friend thinks it is a lost Pissarro worth millions. SPOILER ENDS. There is a twist, but to reveal […]

Malory Towers (Richmond Theatre) and touring

2 July 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 1st July 2026) Like most children of its era, the monkey learned reading endurance working through Enid Blyton’s “Secret Seven,” “Famous Five” and “Five Find-Outers and Dog,” with a little Noddy and many short story compilations thrown in. Also, like most boys of the era, it was discouraged from […]

Barnum (Richmond Theatre) and touring

26 June 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 25th June 2026) Decades before “The Greatest Showman,” this Coleman / Stewart / Bramble Broadway and West End hit was the definitive stage biography of an American showbusiness legend. Should you read further, you will find that Barnum was more than a huckster. Like most men of his time, […]

Equus (Menier Chocolate Factory)

15 June 2026

(seen at the performance on 14th June 2026) Seven years since the thrilling Theatre Royal, Stratford East production, Lindsay Posner and team take a very different approach. This is mostly about how psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Toby Stephens) perceives troubled horse-blinding teenager Alan Strang (Noah Valentine). It is very clear that Stephens’s Dysart sees something of […]

Allegra (Richmond Theatre) and touring

13 June 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 13th June 2026) It is easy to see why Maureen Lipman was attracted to Peter Quilter’s new comedy. Everything about it feels like Lipman’s late husband – (the irreplaceable) Jack Rosenthal’s television era. Slightly eccentric ordinary people, embarking on personal flights of fancy. Easy to dismiss as frivolous, but […]

The Shawshank Redemption (Richmond Theatre) and touring

4 June 2026

(seen at the afternoon performance on 3rd June 2026) As with the now legendary film version, this stage adaptation had unexpectedly limited success on its first run in the West End in 2009. Now, 17 years later, it is a deftly executed touring play. Gary McCann’s design is impressive. High, slightly bowing windows, metal guard […]