News The Constant Wife (Richmond Theatre) and touring 16 February 2026 (seen at the afternoon performance on 14th February 2026) If this show had a scent, it would be the satisfying odour of ink from a glossy magazine. The characters are from that strata of 1920s London society. Upper middle-class professionals with firm ideas of propriety, and the first iteration of softening attitudes stemming from the […] Read more »
News Here There Are Blueberries (Theatre Royal, Stratford East). 13 February 2026 (seen at the afternoon performance on 12th February 2026) Six photographs of young female office workers seated on a fence by a pretty holiday chalet, enjoying blueberries. Their boss is with them, and they are enjoying a little relaxation in a busy schedule. He later captions the photographs, “Here There Are Blueberries.” They form part […] Read more »
News The Rat Trap (Park Theatre) 6 February 2026 (seen at the afternoon performance on 5th February 2026) Noel Coward wrote the original version of this play when he was just 18. Of course, he had been a theatre professional for over half a decade by then, and people grew up far more quickly. Still, considering what a young man would have probably known […] Read more »
News American Psycho (Almeida Theatre) 5 February 2026 (seen at the afternoon performance on 4th February 2026) This was quite a book in the monkey’s day. Sold sealed, it was one dirty, anarchic, raw read. Often making little sense, few mentioned the fact. It was the 1980s, appearances were everything. The monkey wasn’t keen on the film adaptation, and the 2013 Robert Goold […] Read more »
News Fallen Angels (Menier Chocolate Factory) 2 February 2026 (seen at the performance on 1st February 2026) This is early Coward, and unfamiliar to the monkey. It wishes it had discovered it sooner. Christopher Luscombe’s scrupulously period production shows it to best advantage, Simon Higlett producing a 1925 Art Deco sitting room (airily lit by Oliver Fenwick) the monkey would move into tomorrow. It […] Read more »
News “I Do” (Malmaison Hotel, Barbican) 28 January 2026 (seen at the performance on 27th January 2026) For the first time in over 40 years of theatregoing, the monkey viewed the opening scene of a play from inside a walk-in shower stall, shared with three other audience members. Such are the perils of “site-specific” theatre. “Dante or Die’s” show, first seen in 2013, is […] Read more »
News Coward & Friends (Menier Chocolate Factory) 26 January 2026 (seen on 25th January 2026) On the gorgeous 1930s luxurious apartment set of “Fallen Angels,” two (well, three, as it turns out) of its stars give a Sunday evening cabaret, an unmissable celebration of its author, Noel Coward. “A Room with a View” opens proceedings, Janie Dee then pouring herself a snifter – “I’ve done […] Read more »
News Woolf Works (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) 24 January 2026 (seen at the afternoon performance on 24th January 2026) “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” A play, the title based on a New York subway station graffiti. “Woolf Works” is more literal. Three short ballets based on work by the celebrated, tragic author. The first, “I Now, I Then” takes 1925’s “Mrs Dalloway,” alternating between Clarissa […] Read more »
News The 2025 Goodmonkey Awards 14 January 2026 Once again it is time to enjoy the free (if not freely given) hospitality of a theatre, for a brief period until security arrives, in order to deliver the awards some folk would rather not win. This year, Hampstead Theatre are our unwitting hosts. Obviously, this is a “couples only” event as they don’t admit […] Read more »
News Mario the Maker Magician (Underbelly Boulevard Theatre) 10 January 2026 (seen at the 2pm performance on 10th January 2026) We all remember (and later pay for) a children’s party entertainer. Most are pretty good. Members of the Magic Circle, earning enough to feed their wooden duck and keep that squirty flower full of vodka (it isn’t all just keeping the little blighters’ attention with words, […] Read more »