FILM OF THE MONTH: The Odyssey starring Matt Damon (August 2026)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Runtime: 173 minutes

By Neil Durham

2 years after Oppenheimer and Christopher Nolan’s follow-up is a spectacular rethinking of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem with its protagonist reflecting more than ever before on the worth of his heroism.

  • Read on for reasons including how this offers spectacular visuals of 1 of history’s most colourful tales and the possibility that even the most bombastic of warmongers can change
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THEATRE REVIEW: Death Note The Musical at Barbican Centre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Saturday 1 August, opens 11 August and runs through 12 September 2026.

It feels like musical theatre has never been more popular and yet we can’t help but also think that not everything’s ripe to see its characters burst into song.

  • Read on for reasons including how this should have stuck to its Post-Its rather than its musical notes
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THEATRE REVIEW: I’m Every Woman: The Chaka Khan Musical starring Alexandra Burke at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

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By Neil Durham

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

WHEN? Sunday 2 August (matinee), opens 4 August and runs through 27 September 2026 RUNTIME: 160 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

X Factor winner Burke (Chicago, Phoenix Theatre) is Chaka Khan and encores with a mash-up of her biggest hits – I Feel For You, Ain’t Nobody and I’m Every Woman – and it’s a joyous end to the story of a complicated woman born ahead of her time in the surprise hit show of the summer.

  • Read on for reasons including how we were expecting to see Burke’s understudy
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THEATRE REVIEW: Cats starring Melanie La Barrie & Gary Wilmot at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Saturday 1 August (matinee), opens 6 August and runs through 12 September 2026 RUNTIME: 135 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s the extraordinarily moving song Memory – sample lyric: ‘I remember the time I knew what happiness was, let the Memory live again’ – which elevates this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on T.S. Eliot’s poems in Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats.

  • Read on for reasons including how to see this show on tour around the UK after this run
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ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Same Sun/Same Sky by The Darling Buds (August 2026)

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

Tracklist: Hey Saint Jude; Intruder; Oh No You Don’t; Lost Time; Jump In; Giddy In A Good Way; Cut Me Dead; Cast A Stone; Pretenders; Paper Planes; Leaving The Scene; Pollyanna Says

Same Sun/Same Sky is the 1st new album for 34 years by The Darling Buds and it draws on the best of the many styles of the band’s 1st trio of LPs to underline why they were so underrated.

  • Read on for reasons including if you’ve ever loved the band, Same Sun/Same Sky should definitely shine for you
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THEATRE REVIEW: How The Other Half Loves at the Old Vic starring Roger Allam

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Wednesday 29 July, opens 11 August and runs through 19 September 2026 RUNTIME: 180 minutes (with a 20-minute interval but aiming for 150 minutes)

Olivier Award-winner Roger Allam (A Number, Bridge Theatre) is the hilarious best reason to see this farce as bumbling businessman Frank Foster who fails to realise his wife is cheating on him.

  • Read on for reasons including how this timely production could ride the crest of the wave as a whole new audience discovers its writer’s genius
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THEATRE REVIEW: Cleansed starring Pearl Chanda, Jack Riddiford, Stuart Thompson & Leo Bill at the Almeida Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Friday 24 July, opens 29 July and runs through 29 August 2026 RUNTIME: 100 minutes (no interval)

Our performance is stopped almost midway through for what was described as ‘a 1st aid front of house incident’ and we imagine it was in response to the spurting blood as a character’s tongue is cut off.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is exactly the sort of play that can remind about the power of theatre to change its audience
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FILM OF THE MONTH: Heartstopper Forever starring Kit Connor & Joe Locke (July 2026)

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *** RUNTIME: 114 minutes

‘Everyone says teenage relationships don’t last’ characters say to each other repeatedly in the apparent conclusion to this groundbreaking series seemingly foreshadowing its imminent Netflix demise.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is a rushed goodbye rather than the 1 such a groundbreaking piece of TV and film deserves
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THEATRE REVIEW: The Oresteia starring Rosie Sheehy, Mary-Louise Parker, Tom Glynn-Carney & David Morrissey at the Bridge Theatre

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Monday 20 July and runs through 19 September 2026 RUNTIME: 215 minutes (including 2 15-minute intervals)

Can a play ever be too long?

  • Read on for reasons including how thanks to its fantastic cast this is 1 of the best revivals of the year so far
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THEATRE REVIEW: Jesus Christ Superstar starring Sam Ryder, Tyrone Huntley, Desmonda Cathabel & Richard Armitage at London Palladium

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By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN? Saturday 18 July, and runs through 5 September 2026. Transfers to Theatre Royal Drury Lane 16 October through 9 January 2027. Tickets Also UK tour 11 February 2027 through 23 October 2027 RUNTIME: 125 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The summer success of last year’s Olivier Award-winning EVITA! perhaps made this resurrection of a recent Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of an Andrew Lloyd Webber classic an obvious choice as follow up.

  • Read on for reasons including how Ryder gives so much vocally it may be unsustainable 8 shows a week
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