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Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · 1d

#daddysfirstgaydate was a light-hearted, somewhat silly take on a newly-out bi man finding his feet in an unfamiliar world.

Good performances but a little disjointed and over-long. Trimming back to a 1h play would make it a tight fringe play.
(58 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · 23d

The Producers s glorious - spectacular performances, very silly and featuring the campest n*zis ever...
Bialystock & Bloom did very right
(57 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · 26d

#Hercules proved to me that the big Disney musicals really aren't my thing...
Really strong performances, especially the solo numbers in the huge Theatre Royal but left me feeling cold - over produced, verging on pantomime at times & badly sound mixed in the big ensemble numbers.
(56 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · 29d

Happy Ending @waterlooeasttheatre is great fun - cheeky and camp with some brilliant plot twists. Jimmy Walker & Billy Essex were wonderful as a gay masseuse & his nervous client. They handled the set breaking at a key moment well & managed not to corpse at the odd blocking thereafter.
(55 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Oct 5

Really well worth seeing, but getting home from the new to me @theatre503, a cute black box pub theatre by Battersea Park was so much hassle with railway & tube engineering work.

(54 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Oct 5

"An Adequate Abridgement of Life as a Boarding School Homo" @ Theatre503 was clever engaging fringe theatre. The trials & tribulations of Johnny (Ned Blackburn) wittily played out against his lover/bully/teacher/headmaster/grandfather/former-pupil-who-left-suddenly (Harvey Weed)
(54 of 2025)

1

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Oct 5

Parody of the Rings @ Wiltons
was great fun yesterday. Equipment failure means a 12h screening of the Lord of the Rings trilogy can't go ahead so the ushers "Peter" & "Jackson" hilariously perform a very abridged version complete with hobbits, elves, dwarfs, men & a giant spider...

(53 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 27

Hamlet @nationaltheatre
I've seen a lot of Shakespeare but somehow not Hamlet before today...

Hiren Abeysekera was brilliant as Hamlet. Fransesca Mills' Ophelia was something else - utterly show stealing in her madness.
Clever staging & a big cast as you'd expect from the National.

(52 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 20

#Clarkston is a challenging play. Two young men find friendship and attraction working nights at a Costco and dealing with (very different) challenges. Locke & Mollica make a compelling duo.

(51 of 2025)

1

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 17

Entertaining Mr Sloane @ young vic
A solid performance of Joe Orton's play, especially Jordan Stevens as the alternately mock-innocent, raunchy & menacing Sloane and Tamzin Outhwaite as the not-so-naive Kath. A little lacking in subtly at the start, but with an impressively strong end.

(50 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 13

@kitkatclubldn for a magical 4th time.
Plunging into the seedy Berlin nightclub atmosphere at 1 pm was interesting....

Rob Madge as the MC, makes the role his own with wonderful timing, looks & jokes.

The ominous ending felt too real, especially with a protest march audible outside.
(49 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 6

#BornWithTeeth is exceptional theatre. Marlowe at the height of fame taunts Shakespeare as they collaborate. The tension and erotic ties between them grow more intense whilst Cecil's spy network confounds.

Gatwa is magnificent, his best work yet. A brilliant foil to Bluemel's Marlowe.

(48 of 2025)

1

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Sep 3

Brigadoon @ Regents Park OAT was creatively staged with atmospheric use of bagpipes & classic musical theatre choreography. Louis Gaunt as Tommy Albright stole the show with a beautiful voice, hunky swagger. Great costuming invoked Scotland with tweed and subdued tartans

(47 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Aug 30

One of the weirdest and creepiest plays I've ever seen. *The Pitchfork Disney* @kingsheadtheatre builds from two troubled siblings to four truly bizarre characters in an almost indescribably weird one-room world. Wonderful performances of almost manic characters all round.

(46 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Aug 26

The Gathered Leaves @parktheatrelondon
Easter 1997, a family gathers for the 1st time in 17y for the overbearing patriarch's 75th birthday. Intertwined stories, pain & relationships are revealed, focussing on a brother's love & protective feelings for his autistic brother.
(45 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Aug 23

The Daughter of Time was a clever, intriguing premise and story. A bed-ridden detective investigates one of the ultimate cold cases - the real Richard III before Tudor propaganda made him the evil hunchback. Well performed and enjoyable but very pedestrian staging.
(44 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Aug 16

A gloriously silly, queer version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lovers get very confused and Oberon shares a bath with an ass. The Mechanicals' play is as truly bonkers as they come.

I somehow stayed wide awake and interested despite an early start and >35,000 steps.
(43 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Aug 10

Sean Hayes is absolutely spectacular as Oscar Levant - a fabulous wit and composer/pianist appearing on a talk show while commited to a mental hospital. (Based on a real event in Levant's life.) A exceptional play and performance that both definitely warranted the standing ovation.
(42 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jul 26

Extraordinary Women @jermynstreettheatre is a beautifully performed musical based on Compton Mackenzie's novel.

The dramas of a group of sapphic lovers are causing chaos in Sirene & the Sirens are worried.

The novel was contemporary w Woolf's Orlando & somehow that explains a lot...
(41 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jul 21

#Nye
The @nationaltheatre at its best. Beautiful, powerful theatre. Michael Sheen & Sharon Small are brilliant as Nye Bevan & Jennie Lee. Bevan's mind on his death bed revisits key moments in his life as a miner, people's champion, politician and founder of the amazing NHS.
(40 of 2025)

1

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jul 20

A couple open up their relationship for one time experiences with a beautiful friend. What could possibly go wrong?

A clever play well performed, concentrating on exploring emotions and repercussions not unnecessary titillation.

#FourPlay @kingsheadtheatre.bsky.social
(39 of 2025)

3 4

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jul 12

Clueless @ Trafalgar Theatre.
Very well adapted and performed but nothing special - another adaptation of a 90s American highschool film.
(38 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jun 28

Kings of Pangea @kingsheadtheatre.bsky.social

An intriguing musical with a wonderful premise but a slow start. A young boy/man dealing with hope & bereavement through allegory that's revealed to be a tale he built with his mother.
(37 of 2025)

3 2

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jun 14

Mrs Warren's Profession is a clever George Bernard Shaw play about morality, money and social mores tied up in the strained relationship between mother and daughter. Imelda Staunton & Bessie Carter make a magnificent pair playing two powerful women living by unusual principles.
(36 of 2025)

Mattt D @madmattt.bsky.social · Jun 14

Godz by headfirstacrobats was gloriously silly, homoerotic acrobatics by some stunning A̶u̶s̶t̶r̶a̶l̶i̶a̶n̶ Greek gods. Excellent athletic performances tied together with cheesy acting.
(35 of 2025)