Welcome 2026

New Year's greetings, and a guest review of KENREX

Shoreditch Park, Hackney

Call me fatalistic, but I find that New Year’s resolutions and goals just feel like courting disaster. At the beginning of 2025, I was the most confident and creative I’d ever been and I was so excited about Musicals magazine’s first full year as a monthly publication. Then that all came crashing down at the end of January. There’s so little that we can control and I prefer to focus on one step at a time.

I thought perhaps I should resolve to try to see more as there are people who easily saw more than 100 (even 200) more shows than I did in 2025 – however, it isn’t a numbers game, nor is it a competition as to who sees the most. I’m going to stick to my own pace and respect the fact that I don’t have unlimited energy levels as I don’t want to burn out.

Another thing that I can control is time wasted on my phone. I’ve made a start by restricting my time on Instagram – the algorithm serving me diets, royalty and AI slop is a complete waste of headspace and I hope that before long, I won’t even think about it.

I can also try to stop worrying so much about people hating me/thinking I’m not good enough. More than anything, it’s so boring.

I can’t control subscriber numbers, of course, but I would love to reach 100 and, now that I’m on about 85, it does feel within reach. Maybe by Easter…

For Christmas, I bought tickets for my mum and me to see Into the Woods in March, and my brother David got us tickets for Paddington in May. I also got tickets for the matinee performance of KENREX on New Year’s Eve (it sounded like an explosive way to end the year). However, it almost didn’t happen because it was discovered a few hours before the show that I’d booked for 31 January… I got on the phone to the theatre and they very kindly took pity and let me change my booking. Phew.¹

Jack Holden in Kenrex. Photo: Pamela Raith

I was a bit nervous about KENREX as it’s had so many rave reviews and hype can be bit of a killer (I was so scared it would be another Every Brilliant Thing). Fortunately, it’s hugely impressive and David has very kindly provided a guest review:

KENREX is a highly innovative show which pushes boundaries of traditional theatre, taking the tired tropes of ‘true crime drama’ and pulling off a magic trick. Based in the small Missouri town of Skidmore, actor and co-writer (with director Ed Stambollouian) Jack Holden brings its inhabitants to life, slipping between dozens of precise characters with a frenetic energy, interchanging and interrupting himself like a man possessed.

There’s a local bully in town with his Saul Goodman-esque lawyer in tow, and the locals pose interesting questions about the nature of justice. Whilst there is depth to the narrative, it’s mainly just gloriously entertaining. Holden does mesmerising voice work, never letting his accents slip, and uses his body gracefully to make each character distinct. It’s an extraordinarily physical performance which somehow lets you see every one of these characters as if they are there. Holden’s performance looks effortless and instinctive, despite the energy and incredible craft which must have done into the direction.

KENREX takes more inspiration from TV and film than traditional theatre, taking on an electrifying pace, much thanks to onstage musician John Patrick Elliot, who DJs Giles Thomas’s impressive and immersive sound design. Elliot provides electrifying multi-instrumentation, which is often diegetic², creative a propulsive fervour and a real sense of place. Elliot is in constant duet with Holden, providing colours and vigour to this intoxicating, wild performance.

David Rank

Kenrex plays at The Other Palace until 1 February 2026 - information and tickets here.

What are you looking forward to in 2026? Are there any changes you’re planning to make?

1. Luckily I’ve never missed a press night, though I did once turn up a couple of days early…

2. I’ve never been brave enough to use ‘diegetic’ in a review in fear I’d use it incorrectly.