Critics divided over The Glorious French Revolution
New Diorama Theatre
The Glorious French Revolution. Photo: Alex Brenner
The Glorious French Revolution (or why sometimes it takes a guillotine to get anything done), to give it its full title, is the latest production from experimental theatre company YESYESNONO. Directed and written by company founder Sam Ward, it uses five actors to tell the story of what happened in Paris in 1789 and just after. The critics were thin on the ground but neatly divided between three that thought it was entertaining and exciting, and three that thought heads should roll.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Dave Fargnoli in The Stage (4★) called it ‘part-potted history, part-grotesque pantomime, and – in its most effective moments – a stingingly relevant social critique.’ This ‘is an enthralling rollercoaster of a work,’ enthused Franco Milazzo of BroadwayWorld (4★). Monica Fox for The Reviews Hub (4 ) said it was ‘a bold, imaginative, and entertaining piece of theatre.’
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (2★) commented, ‘it could be a five-star show, but in its current state it is an intelligent mess.’
The Times’ Clive Davis (1★) dismissed it as ‘An excruciatingly simple-minded romp through the events leading up to the Terror…I’m tempted to describe it as Horrible Histories for Brechtians, but at least those children’s books deliver decent jokes.’
Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski gave no rating but concluded, ‘ultimately there is no real insight here, and no attempt to explain why this show exists or what the Revolution meant to its makers. Stylish hipster theatre, about the coolest of the big Western revolutions, but it’s about as profound as a Che Guevara t-shirt.’
Critics’ Average Rating 2.8★
The Glorious French Revolution (or why sometimes it takes a guillotine to get anything done) can be seen at the New Diorama Theatre until 14 December 2024. Buy tickets direct here.
If you’ve seen The Glorious French Revolution (or why sometimes it takes a guillotine to get anything done) at the New Diorama Theatre, please add your review below
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Photo: Marc Brenner
Many 4 and 5 star reviews for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Based on an F Scott Fitzgerald short story, which also spawned a film starring Brad Pitt, the musical is about a man who lives his life in reverse. Created by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, it transfers the action from America to Cornwall. The show has spent five years working its way up from the fringe to the refined version we now find in the West End starring John Dagleish and Claire Foster.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
WhatsOnStage’s Alun Hood (5★) declared: ‘Already one of the best British musicals in decades, in this newest iteration, it looks like a world-beater.’ It is, he explained, ‘a complex but never confusing yarn about such universal themes as the passage of time, the nature of belonging, the meaning of home, and the redemptive power of love.’ of the two lovers st the centre of the story, he said, ‘Dagleish nails the eternal misfit’ and Clare Foster ‘is heartbreakingly good, conveying a life-affirming generosity of spirit as she moves from the restlessness of assertive youth to the infirmity of old age.’ He ended, ‘Timeless and heart-burstingly magical, there’s no other current West End musical I’d rather be at.’
Tim Robey, the Telegraph’s film critic (5★), said, ‘The show’s open-hearted lyricism achieves a truly warming glow, the likes of which we may not have seen since the Tony-winning Once, over a decade ago.’ Praise indeed. He concluded, ‘The musical’s creators, Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, haven’t just breathed new life into a literary gimmick but unlocked meanings I never guessed it could have.’
Aliya Al-Hassan of Broadway World (5★) described it as a ‘beautifully crafted show that vibrates with heart and soul’ and said, ‘The show is jam-packed with top quality, empathetic and carefully crafted songs, from the loud and vibrant to delicate and moving ballads.’
In the Standard (4★), Nick Curtis declared, ‘this is the version to treasure.’ ‘This musical really does touch the heart,’ felt Clive Davis in The Times (4★). ‘Clark’s melodies are sinuous and restless,’ he said.
Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out (4★) described it ‘an extraordinary thing, a soaring folk opera that overwhelms you with a cascade of song and feeling.’ He continued, ‘it has a joy, romance and big-hearted elan that stands in stark contrast to Fitzgerald’s cynicism and the dolefulness of Fincher’s sloggy film.’
Calling it ‘loveable’, Holly O’Mahony in The Stage (4★) said, ‘it’s atmospheric, with fishing nets and buoys hanging above a wooden, dock-like stage. Darren Clark’s folksy score is studded with Clark and Compton’s sea shanty-style songs, and there’s a determinedly upbeat essence to the music that prevents the bittersweet story from ever dwelling in its darkness.’
For The Guardian (4★), Emma John said, ‘Perhaps the winsomeness is occasionally overdone. But it’s impossible to be grudging about a production this warm, touching and vivacious.’ Fiona Mountford at i-news (4★) referred to ‘this charming show with its thrummingly tuneful score and fable-like quality’ and a ‘tender and achingly poignant, love story.’
In an insightful review at LondonTheatre (4★), Marianka Swain noted, ‘Luke Swaffield’s evocative soundscape features lapping waves and a whistling wind; there’s a sense of the vast eternity of nature, in sharp contrast to the brief span of a human life. We must make every moment count.’
The Observer’s Susannah Clapp (4) declared , ‘It’s a wave-like movement, a constant musical surge – more jig than gig – that sweeps the evening along. Warmly. Curiously.’
Just when it seemed the reviews were universally excellent, along came Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times (2) describing it as ‘insufferably cute’.
Critics’ average rating 4.3 ★
Value rating 53 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button can be seen at the Ambassadors Theatre until 15 February 2025. Buy tickets direct from theambassadorstheatre
If you’ve seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Ambassadors, please add your review below
Some critics thought this black comedy about Hull trawlermen dealing with the loss of a ship in the 1970s was one of Richard Bean’s best. Others liked it but were not keen on the contrast between the comedy of the first act and the more serious, spooky second half. Anna Reid’s detailed sets were highly praised.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
The Telegraph ‘s Claire Allfree (4★) declared, ‘this is a richly, even bravely old-fashioned play, one of Bean’s very best, which puts its faith in exquisite characterisation and extends a profound humanity to its subject, and as such, a rare treat.’ In Time Out (4★) Andrzej Lukowski) called it ‘an elegiac ‘serious comedy’. For The Standard (4★) Nick Curtis described it as ‘Gritty, spooky and enthralling’.
The Times’ Dominic Maxwell (3) who sees a lot of comedy said it had ‘more fizzingly funny lines than you’ve heard all year’. Julia Rank for WhatsOnStage (3★) was not so convinced: ‘This isn’t one of Bean’s finest efforts but it is watchable – it’s mostly a shame that the potential of act one isn’t followed through.’
Over at The Arts Desk (3★) Aleks Sierz was hoping for better: ‘the slackness of the plotting makes this more of a love letter to old Hull than an exciting well-plotted drama.’ The Stage‘s Dave Fargnoli (3★) found it ‘elegiac snd overstretched’.
It sank for Arifa Akbar in The Guardian (2★) who thought it was ‘baggy and aimless’.
Critics’ Average Rating 3.3★
Reykjavík is at the Hampstead Theatre, London, until 23 November 2024. Buy tickets directly
If you’ve seen Reykjavík at the Hampstead Theatre, please add your review and rating below
Alvaro Morte and Lily Collins in Barcelona. Photo: Marc Brenner
Lily Collins, star of the Netflix hit Emily In Paris, makes her stage debut in a twisty story of a drunken encounter between a naive young American woman and a older cultured European played by Alvaro Morte. The stars involved were given a pass by the critics but many failed Bess Wohl‘s play which was seen as contrived. Ms Collins’ debut was well received. Despite two high-scores, the four two star reviews brought the average rating down to one of the worst this year.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Fiona Mountford in i-news (5★) was in no doubt about its quality: ‘These are among the best 90 minutes of theatre I have seen all year’. She continued, ‘Barcelona works splendidly because every element is akin to peeling the layers of a very large onion. Frankie Bradshaw’s design, chic and bijou on the surface, begins to offer unsettling clues the longer we study it. Director Lynette Linton is at the top of her game’. She praised the star of Emily In Paris: ‘This is a remarkable stage debut from Collins, conveying a fascinating blend of interlayered weakness and strength.’
Sarah Crompton from WhatsOnStage (4★) also liked it: ‘It’s a strangely old-fashioned concoction, not at all earth-shattering or ground-breaking, not always as truthful as it wants to be, or as revelatory as it hopes, yet always engrossing and warm-hearted. A gentle pleasure.’ Referring to the stars, she said, ‘Both have real charisma’.
The Telegraph‘s Claire Allfree (3★) described it as ‘both flimsy and dated and predominately a vehicle for Lily Collins’. However the vehicle carried the star through the evening: ‘Collins really is good as Irene, radiating effervescent naivety and as giddy as a pony while finding the vulnerability in a sheltered 35-year-old who has never found the strength to challenge her own life choices.’ Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre (3★) commented, ‘Wohl’s play truly sings when she hits us with some big revelations and these two strangers are shown not to be so dissimilar after all’.
Although Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (3★)said, ‘this feels like a curiously flimsy affair’, she did praise the leads: ‘The performances are compelling… Collins, in her stage debut, is a mercurial figure, zigzagging about like a butterfly, both physically and emotionally.’ Despite describing The Standard‘s Nick Curtis (3★) described Lily Collins as ‘sensational’ and praised her ‘presence and timing’. But he was disappointed to find her and her co-star ‘stuck in a phony emotional rollercoaster’.
The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar (2★) gave the leads lukewarm praise: ‘While the performances are agreeable, it is hard to invest in either character’ and more generally ‘Given the considerable creative talent involved, this is a curiously flat affair’. She came down hard on the director: ‘in Lynette Linton’s production neither the suspense nor the humour hit home, the mix often more awkward than unsettling.’ She concluded it was ‘a production that carries its own what-might-have-been disappointment’.
In The Stage (2★), an exasperated Tom Wicker declared, ‘this is an infuriating play. It’s packed with plot contrivances that see it spinning its wheels to audience patience-testing effect, in service of a final-act reveal.’
Annabel Nugent at The Independent (2★) was scathing, ‘The play’s themes of suicide and grief are tried-and-true shortcuts to the heartstrings. And yet here, it never quite locates them. Moments intended as gut punches land with a feather-light touch; monologues are heavy in exposition but lacking in the requisite emotional scaffolding to support them.’
Clive Davis from The Times (2★) kept up his record as the most frequent dispenser of 2 star reviews. Saying the play ‘seems suspended in a land of make-believe’, he went on to comment, ‘this late-night encounter between two strangers is so schematic that its musings on life, death and love seldom ring true.’ The Observer’s Susannah Clapp (2★) was dismissive: ‘the range of feeling remains small: from giggle to whimper.’
No star rating was attached to the review by Time Out’s Andrjez Lukowksi. Given his comments, this may not be an oversight: ‘Really it’s just not good enough – everyone here has the capacity to make work better than Barcelona, so exactly why they’ve settled on a formulaic two-hander that doesn’t even feel written for a British audience is beyond me.’
Critics’ Average Rating 2.6★
Value Rating 27 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
Barcelona is at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, until 11 January 2025. Buy tickets directly
If you’ve seen Barcelona at the Duke of York’s Theatre, please add your review and rating below
Steve Coogan and Giles Terera in Dr Strangelove. Photo: Manuel Harlan
Steve Coogan triumphed as four different characters but for many critics, the show didn’t quite take off. Although acknowledged as funny, the script by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley was criticised by some for being lightweight and timid. The large-scale show is based on Stanley Kubrick’s 1984 satirical film about war-hungry Americans on the brink of nuclear war. Inevitably many of the critics referred to the beloved original in detail and were disappointed that the stage version was different to the original film.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Broadway World’s Gary Naylor (5★) praised the adaptors for their decision not to update the story but rather ‘to recreate the movie on stage. That may be a safer creative choice… but the raw material is so very strong that its power is barely diminished 60 years on.’ He underestimated his fellow critics’ capacity to find fault when he said this choice will offer ‘fewer opportunities for disappointed diehard fans to kvetch or identify the instances when the jokes were not as good’. He was in awe of the star: ‘Coogan’s energy is astonishing … he draws on every element of his comic heritage from voices, to pratfalls, to character work, to farce’. He pointed out, ‘There’s wonderful work wherever you look on stage. Giles Terera holds General Turgidson’s bloodlust in check just sufficiently to avoid toppling into caricature, his eyes worth the ticket price alone (some of it at least).’
Marianka Swain reviewing for London Theatre (4★) found the show ‘explosively funny’. She appreciated ‘the tone of Foley’s assured production, which easily flips between Airplane!-style genre-busting farce and alarmingly resonant commentary on humanity’s reckless self-destructiveness.’ Of Steve Coogan, she said, ‘the real treat is his white-haired, wildly camp, extravagantly accented former-Nazi scientist Dr Strangelove…It’s absolutely hysterical.’
Neil Norman in the Express (4★) declared, ‘Sean Foley maintains the tension and the comedy throughout with remarkable nimbleness’. He praised Hildegard Bechtler’s design: ‘Best of all, the arrival of a B-52 bomber that noses its way onto the stage against a video backdrop of clouds is genuinely impressive.’ ‘But,’ he concluded, ‘it’s Coogan’s triumph’.
The Stage’s Dave Fargnoli (4★)was impressed: ‘Iannucci and Foley retain the film’s subversive spirit, but downplay its nihilism, juxtaposing gloriously silly punchlines with a building sense of unease’. As for the star: ‘Coogan displays boundless energy and impeccable comic timing.’ He also praised ‘Hildegard Bechtler’s unfussy, impactful sets’ and ‘Giles Terera channels a fascinatingly chaotic energy’.
Alice Saville in The Independent (3★) thought it was ‘a lovable but overly reverential approach to a film classic’. Despite criticising the production’s timidity, she found the humour ‘evergreen, prickling with ingenious wordplay and sickly surrealism’.
Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (3★) also found it timid: ‘It’s entertaining but never quite as savage as you expect.’ She found ‘there’s something strangely effortful about this adaptation’. However, ‘It’s hard to fault either the comic virtuosity of Steve Coogan’ and ‘Foley’s direction keeps up the hysterical pace’.
Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out (3★) found, ‘For the most part it’s funny because it’s very cognisant of why the film was funny – the dialogue is relentlessly amusing, and the characters are a dream.’ He continued, ‘it’s a slick stage tribute to a beloved 70-year-old movie that captures the reasons why it was a hit but less so the reasons why it’s a masterpiece.’
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (3★) was moderately enthusiastic: ‘if this show is anything, it is fun. And Coogan fans most certainly get bang for their buck.’
The Times’ Clive Davis (3★) called the production ‘stolid’ and ‘a decent star vehicle for Steve Coogan’. For Rachel Halliburton at The Arts Desk (3★) ‘the humour doesn’t always detonate in the way it should’.
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (3★) felt ‘the satire doesn’t bite as it might and the comedy sometimes feels rather effortful, as if the company felt the need to push it’. She wondered if ‘a slightly more maverick, shoestring approach — something along the lines of Operation Mincemeat — might have given the staging a little more sting.’
One of the most damning reviews came from the Telegraph’s Claire Allfree (2★). She found it ‘trapped between the film’s formidable legacy and an inability to recreate it anew theatrically.’ She said it ‘serves up a knockabout production marked by a contrasting refusal to take its subject seriously. With Coogan on full power, this is not necessarily always a problem.’ She specified, ‘Hildegard Bechtler’s set exemplifies the problem – there’s the odd nod to the original, notably the War Room’s circular overhead light, but it settles mainly for perfunctory designs in regulation 1960s grey‘. In conclusion, she said, ‘The laughter should come at sickening cost. Foley, by contrast, just wants you to have a good time.’
In the i (2★), Fiona Mountford also criticised the show’s lack of seriousness compared with the film: ‘Whereas Kubrick has pitch-black comedy intercutting a mood of gravitas, Foley unwisely has occasional serious moments raising their heads above cheap jokes’.
For Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times (2★) it was ‘a fatal jollying up of material that needs to be played in earnest’ even if ‘Coogan is never less than good’. The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp (2★) was disappointed: ‘Covetable comic talents have set themselves not to invent but to replicate. What a waste of imagination…This doesn’t look like a visionary glimpse at a future madness but a tepid cartoon of what is actually happening.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.0★
Value Rating 33 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
Dr Strangelove is at Noel Coward Theatre, until 25 January 2025 (then at Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin, 5-22 February 2025). Buy tickets directly here.
Why Steve Coogan is better than Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove
★★★★
John Hopkins and Steve Coogan in Dr Strangelove. Photo: Manuel Harlan
I don’t know what’s more spectacular, the production of Dr Strangelove or Steve Coogan‘s triumphant performance as four different characters. He’s hardly ever off stage and he generates most of the laughs. The script has some flaws, but these are far outweighed by the enjoyment gleaned from this magnificent show.
You might be wondering whether a film made in the 1960s about how a nuclear war might be triggered stacks up as a comedy for today. It does creak occasionally but it is funnier and more relevant than you might expect. I’ll return to that but more to the point is that Dr Strangelove is a vehicle for the powerful comic acting of Steve Coogan, following in the footsteps of the film’s star Peter Sellers by playing multiple roles. As well as constantly changing costumes, he is hardly off the stage. He deserves an award for stamina, as well as any others he will deservedly accrue.
The action starts at a US air base in Britain. The hut interior with its massive Venetian blinds, just waiting to be disrupted, is the first of a series of great sets by Hildegard Bechtler (who also designed the set for the current production of Oedipus). We meet the first and possibly the best of four brilliant characters created by Steve Coogan. He’s a RAF Captain Mandrake, shocked that the US commander has launched an unauthorised nuclear attack on Russia. It’s a masterpiece of British reserve, politeness and beating around the bush in the face of the utter madness of General Ripper played hilariously by a cigar-chomping, carpet-chewing and suitably square-jawed John Hopkins.
Steve Coogan and Giles Terera in Dr Strangelove. Photo: Manuel Harlan
Next, we are in a spectacular War Room with a huge electronic map or ‘Big Board’ as they call it working over the scene, showing targets as ‘circles, squares and squiggly bits’. Here, a panicking mix of politicians and military men have gathered in response to the news. Mr Coogan is the level-headed US President Muffley surrounded by war-mongering generals, led by an excellent Giles Terera as General Turgidson, maintaining a stiff military stance but always on the verge of jumping up and down with childish excitement.
Also in the room is Russian Ambassador Bakov (the amusing names keep on coming), played by Tony Jaywardena, who disintegrates from swaggering confidence to paralysing fear as he realises his fate is in the hands of his unpredictable and possibly mad leader.
There’s some excellent sleight of hand when Mr Coogan changes to Dr Strangelove, a former German scientist now masterminding the US nuclear response. He holds down his arm to prevent it making Nazi salutes, always with a reassuring ’I hated that’, while clearly looking forward to a new Reich. Mr Coogan plays down the German fanatic stereotype which makes his explanation of the logic of having automatic responses to the use of nuclear weapons without human intervention, and his casual description of the consequences of a nuclear holocaust as chilling as they are funny.
The third set cleverly recreates a bomber plane. The fuselage and landscape below are recreated impeccably, although I’m not sure how visible it would be from the back of the stalls. Sitting in the cockpit with two other members of the crew is the pilot Major TJ Kong, played by Steve Coogan.
It takes some chutzpah to put yourself up for comparison with the great Peter Sellers but Mr Coogan emerges with at least a draw, and he deserves an extra credit for playing all these parts in the course of two hours. Like Mr Sellers, he avoids going for the obvious laughs which could be gained from exaggerating the accents and mannerisms, and other clowning. Instead, they take the characters seriously and allow the humour to come out of the situation, making it all the more believable.
Steve Coogan outdoes Peter Sellers in one respect. That’s by taking on a fourth role, which the star of the film was unable to do owing to an injury. Again it’s a priceless performance as Major T J Kong, as the pilot reverts to cowboy mode. Despite objections and obstacles, he is determined to carry out the mission, but can he be stopped?
A code that will cancel the bombers is essential but Coogan back as RAF Captain Mandrake and in possession of said code has trouble trying to phone the President because of lack of change. This leads to one of the funniest scenes, as he tries to persuade a US soldier to shoot open a vending machine. To the American, vandalising Coca Cola property is a more serious offence than causing World War 3.
This stage show has been adapted by Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley from a 1964 film that satirised the military strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction- the idea that if all the major powers were armed with nuclear weapons they wouldn’t attack for fear of being destroyed themselves. At the time, hot on the heels of the Cuban Missile Crisis, people were actually preparing for the possibility of a nuclear war. Sixty years later, it hasn’t happened. Not that that makes Dr Strangelove a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
Yes, CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) is barely mentioned these days and we have become more concerned about the destruction of the planet through pollution and the climate crisis, but the reality is that nuclear weapons have proliferated, making greater than ever the danger of a country, a dictator, or even a terrorist group using them. With an aggressive Putin in power in Russia and an unpredictable President due to take over the US nuclear codes, not to mention nuclear weapons at the disposal of Israel, Pakistan, North Korea and, before long, Iran, this is a timely reminder that it only takes one or two psychopaths with their fingers on the trigger to desolate the world- and how absurd this is.
Giles Terera is excellent as a war-mongering general
Dr Strangelove imagines two such madmen (and the players are all men) setting off a potential nuclear war. In doing so, it exposes fundamental flaws in the macho culture and logic of war that has led them into this corner. So the US generals talk of ‘pre-taliation’, based on the assumption that an accidental attack by them will trigger retaliation and they will need to get in first. It’s satire but it bites deeply into the fanaticism that comes out of the dehumanisation of the opposition.
It’s not a musical but it begins and ends with a chorus line of military personnel dancing to popular songs, the opening number being the most aggressive version of Try A Little Tenderness I’ve ever heard, and ending with Vera Lynn (Penny Ashmore) singing with equal irony the sentimental World War Two song We’ll Meet Again.
The one-liners come thick and fast (‘You can’t fight in here! This is the War Room’) and, thanks to director Sean Foley, the pace rarely lets up. The only problem is that the plot is entirely centred around the question of whether a nuclear war can be prevented. With no subplots or diversions, the humour, never subtle and already dated in parts, becomes progressively predictable: you can only take so many jokes about redneck Americans and the madness of war.
Fortunately, Steve Coogan is magnificent, creating four very different characters and showing perfectly how the best laughs come from taking the comedy seriously. He looked exhausted by the time the curtain came down.
Dr Strangelove can be seen at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End until 25 January 2025, and then at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre from 5 to 22 February 2025. Ticket information here.
Based on the true story of an innocent man who spent 22 years on death row, The Fear of 13 stars Oscar-winning Hollywood star Adrien Brody. The actor was highly praised by reviewers, and there were laudits too for Miriam Buether’s set which turned the Donmar auditorium into the round and immersed some of the audience in the action. Some critics found the play itself by Lindsey Ferrentino a little flat.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Clive Davis in The Times (5★) said, ‘Brody delivers an intense, soul-baring performance in his London stage debut.’ Fiona Mountford in the i (5★) concurred, ‘This is an actor at the top of his game and it is a privilege to watch him up close in this space as we reflect upon the ultimate fairness, or otherwise, of justice.’
Matt Wolf in London Theatre (5★) found, ‘Brody is the real deal – a simmering, soulful theatre animal’. He ended, ‘I surely wasn’t the only one who watched the curtain call misty-eyed at the restoration of justice and in awe of Brody’s impassioned commitment to this story of snatching victory from the jaws of psychic defeat.’
Claire Allfree in the Telegraph (5★) noted, ‘(Brody) combines a bewildered, swaggering, teenage vulnerability with a growing gnawing despair … His consummate performance has the audience on side every step of the way.’
Helen Hawkins at The Arts Desk (5★) said of Brody, ‘His face, with its characterful eyebrows, was built for pathos, his rangey physique to embody suffering; but here his features can also radiate a sunny kind of joy as Yarris discovers love, and that freedom means the freedom to love’.
Alex Wood at What’s On Stage (5★) was impressed that ‘under the creative eye of director Justin Martin and designer Miriam Buether, the auditorium is transformed into the round – generating an oppressive, claustrophobic sense of confined space that is disarmingly flexible when required.’
The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp (4★) also praised the production: ‘Miriam Buether’s design – a bare space for jail and a cosy house trapped behind a glass screen – punches home the distance between inmates and the outside world: like two hands on a prison visit unable to touch.’
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (4★) praised Brody, ‘He’s charismatic, funny and a born storyteller, but Brody also finds a more ambivalent, reckless streak that suggests the damage within. It’s a spellbinding performance’.
Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out (4★) commented, ‘It is, above all, a cracking piece of storytelling, that exists because Yarris is a fascinating man who has lived a remarkable life, and because Brody has the tortured oddball charisma to bring that to the stage.’
Arifa Akbar in The Guardian (3★) thought Adrien Brody ‘is a beguiling presence here but is not given enough space to flex his actorly muscles. Action takes the place of atmosphere.’ Nick Curtis in the Standard (3★) called him ‘Tousled, impossibly lean and charmingly wolfish, Brody surfs each twist and turn of a script that is mostly preoccupied with the stories we tell ourselves as individuals or as a society.’
Alice Saville in The Independent (3★) described how ‘the profound bleakness underlying this story is constantly kept at bay with jokes, soul singing, and the bustling of guards and prisoners coming and going on its busy stage. It’s engrossing and poignant, even if it’s afraid to let the dark in.’ Sam Marlowe in The Stage (3★) was muted: ‘Brody is mesmerising’ she said but ‘it’s a straightforward retelling without much subtext or theatrical texture.’
Critics’ Average Rating 4.2★
The Fear of 13 can be seen at The Donmar Warehouse Theatre until 30 November 2024. Buy tickets directly here
If you’ve seen The Fear of 13 at the Donmar, please add your review and rating below
Jodie Whittaker in The Duchess at Trafalgar Theatre. Photo: Marc Brenner
The Duchess (of Malfi) is, at the time of writing, the Worst Value West End Show in our listing. Only Shrek The Musical has received worst reviews so far this year. The return of Jodie Whittaker to the stage, after a sojourn in Doctor Who and other screen projects, was largely welcomed. Unfortunately Zinnie Harris‘s adaptation of Webster’s Jacobean horror story was condemned by all but the Telegraph, with The Times awarding just one star.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Let’s start with the good news. Kirsten Grant for the Telegraph (4★) liked it: ‘Whittaker proves more than up to the challenge with an enthrallingly layered take on the formidable Duchess.’ She went further, ‘Whittaker and this superb ensemble are surely reason enough to pay the Trafalgar a visit.’ If that weren’t incentive enough, she also said, ‘Harris pulls off a pacy, intense production.’
While conceding ‘it’s undeniably thrilling to see Whittaker on stage again,’ Nick Curtis of the Standard (3★) was unenthusiastic about the production: ‘Harris’s adaptation only comes into its own in the second half. Throughout the first, I wondered what the point was.’
Theo Bosanquet at WhatsOnStage (3★) made similar points. Not a fan of the adaptation, he concentrated on the cast: ‘The performances, however, are impressive …Whittaker in particular reminds us why she’s been such a miss these past dozen years…She has tremendous poise as well as a sense of searing intelligence, repelling her brothers’ early attacks with sheer charisma. Although this may not be the best use of her talents, it’s great to have her back on stage.’
The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp (2★) was blunt in her criticism: ‘Zinnie Harris’s updated version of John Webster’s 1613 tragedy…is a muddle’ and ‘Against Tom Piper’s design of white metal walkways and staircase – a cross between prison and a chic art gallery brightly lit by Ben Ormerod – the generally feeble acting is cruelly exposed: when the men aren’t yelling they are faltering.’
Fiona Mountford in the i (2★) was just as savage: ‘Whittaker gives a powerful and passionate performance, but she faces an insurmountable challenge as Harris’s reworking makes less and less sense as it proceeds.’
Arifa Akbar of The Guardian (2★) called it ‘too much of a melange of tone and ideas’. She continued, ‘The performances are powerful but the setup feels so overbearingly orchestrated that you do not feel the characters’ passion or anger.’
‘This production is fatally lacking in tragic richness and weight,’ said Alice Saville in The Independent (2★). She noted, ‘Harris directs as well as adapts, using an overspilling ragbag of strategies borrowed from European directors’ theatre. Stark lighting. Ear-splitting judders of sound. A few times, characters step up to the microphone to sing out their inner lives…but the device feels both hackneyed and underused.’
Dave Fargnoli in The Stage (2★) was slightly more forgiving: ‘Though the production feels muddled, Harris makes sharp points about the corrosive effects of toxic masculinity.’
The worst reaction of all came from The Times’ Clive Davis who awarded a rare 1★. He described watching Jodie Whittaker ‘stumble through a dismal reworking of John Webster’s Jacobean tragedy. The writer-director Zinnie Harris throws a boxful of half-shaped ideas at the audience and leaves the actors looking horribly exposed. Long stretches feel like a rehearsal from a student production.’
Critics’ Average Rating 2.3★
Value Rating 23 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
Robert Icke’s adaptation of Sophocles’ classic into a story of passionate love doomed by a search for truth. Most critics found it thrilling and tense, three giving 5 stars, but, as so often happens, a couple of them discovered no tension at all. Mark Strong as an Obama-like politician and Lesley Manville as his strong devoted wife were highly praised.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (5★) was most impressed: ‘its transformation into a political thriller-cum-family tragedy is riveting from beginning to end…Manville and Strong who make this production electric; rarely has a show had two such formidable leads who become stronger with every scene.’ It was she concluded, ‘An old play is masterfully analysed and made newly devastating.’
Sarah Hemming in The Financial Times (5★) began, ‘Led by superb performances from Strong and Manville, Icke brilliantly remakes Sophocles’ profoundly disturbing tragedy for our times.’ She noted, ‘It reaches far into the nagging question of how much any of us really want to know’. She also pointed out, ‘The deep irony of Icke’s staging is that there is so much love in the room.’
Susannah Clapp in The Observer (5★) was another to give top marks: ‘There will surely not be a more powerful production in the UK this year…It is electric.’ She continued, ‘A tremendous cast seem to have the complexes and complexities of the plot running through them like blood.’
WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton (4★) declared, ‘The result, helped by magnificent performances from Strong and Lesley Manville as his wife Jocasta, is as gripping as a thriller, yet weighted with the terrible sense… of what might have been.’ ‘By the close,’ she said, ‘their suffering has become almost unbearable to watch, a modern reminder of the power of Greek tragedy to lay bare all the grief of the human soul.’
Alice Saville in The Independent (4★) was excited: ‘Writer and director Robert Icke’s brilliant reimagining of Oedipus achieves the monumental feat of taking a Greek drama where (almost) everyone thinks they know what’s going to happen, and turning it into an exercise in tension, one that etches its message with the painful efficiency of a tattoo gun.’ Of the two stars, she commented, ‘Strong is full of a fearless, sometimes fearsome integrity as Oedipus, with Manville bringing a brittle sensuality to the role of his wife Jocasta.’
Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre (4★) noted, ‘Just like the original, Icke’s reworked tragedy, framed here as a tense political thriller, reveals the crushing weight of truth and knowledge.’ About the leads she said, ‘their chemistry as lovers-turned-relatives has absorbing, agonising friction.’
For Nick Curtis in The Standard (4★), it was ‘astonishing’. He went on, ‘Strong’s smart, passionate, utterly believable relationship with the luminous Manville as his older wife Jocasta roots the unravelling suspense’. Cheekily he combined a spoiler with a lewd compliment: ‘this show is mother**in’ good.’
Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (4★) said Icke’s version ‘benefits from a lethal but compassionate decluttering, a singularity of purpose that distils a famously lurid story into something empathetic, lucid and quite, quite devastating.’ He confessed, ‘Even if you’re aware of every twist and turn of the story, this Oedipus glints with a deadly sharpness. I may not have actually gasped, but I was looking at the end through my fingers.’
Dave Fargnoli in The Stage (4★) reported, ‘The piece has a cumulative power that builds gradually until the atmosphere is riveting, suffocating and unbearably tense.’ ‘The ‘mighty momentum of the tragedy is thrilling in its grim inexorability,’ agreed Fiona Mountford in the i (4★)
Clare Allfree for the Telegraph (3★) was less convinced, calling it a ‘slick, somewhat anodyne reimagining’. She disagrees with most of her fellow reviewers about it being a thriller: ‘Icke is usually excellent at sustaining tension through the electric space he generates between his actors; here, that space feels slack’. It’s a case of too little too late when ‘Strong and Manville are desperately moving in the extraordinary final scenes’. The Times’ Clive Davis (3★) was also disappointed: ‘Eager to impress, Icke is always tossing stage effects at us.’
Critics’ Average Rating 4.1★
Value rating 45 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)
The Cabinet Minister at The Menier Theatre. Photo: Tristram Kenton
Who would have thought that a forgotten play by a seldom-performed Victorian playwright would be one of the funniest theatre shows of the year?
Arthur Pinero was one of the most popular playwrights of his day- he was even given a knighthood. He made his name with farces and then with more serious plays on social matters like The Second Mrs Tanquery– one of the few that people may have heard of. While he may not offer quite the sharp wit or tight plots of his contemporary Oscar Wilde, Pinero too mocked the Victorian upper class.
I think it’s fair to say his plays haven’t aged as well as Wilde’s, but with a little attention from adaptor Nancy Carroll, The Cabinet Minister scrubs up very well. She’s simplified the story, cut the anachronisms, and added lashings of innuendoes.
What is the plot? Unbeknownst to him, a government minister’s wife and son have run up enormous debts. The latter is a gambler, the former has bought far too many expensive dresses on credit. If the debts aren’t paid, the minister already under pressure to resign, will be disgraced and forced to retire to that fate worse than death (to his wife, anyway) the countryside.
The dressmaker and her moneylender brother intend to use the debts as leverage to gain entry into high society, and, in the brother’s case, to use insider knowledge to make a stock market killing. The wife’s solution is to marry off her children to rich spouses. They have different ideas- they would like to marry for love.
A rollicking farce
Nicholas Rowe & Nancy Carroll in The Cabinet Minister. Photo: Tristram Kenton
So, it has all the ingredients of a comedy of manners and a rollicking farce. Nancy Carroll, director Paul Foster, designer Janet Bird and a well chosen cast have cooked them up into the comedy of the year. Nicholas Rowe plays the government minister Sir Julian Twombley. Tall and patrician, and so cynical about politics he gets his butler to write his speeches, he provides the still centre for the shenanigans.
Nancy Carroll not only adapted the play, she stars as his wife Lady Katherine Twombley. She knows how lucky she is to be part of high society, and doesn’t want that luck to run out. In Ms Carroll’s hands, she carries herself haughtily, throws out barbed one-liners, and panics wholeheartedly, as when she tries to strangle her nemesis Bernard Lacklustre. He’s the main creditor and, played by Laurence Ubong Williams, is a Del Boy character failing at every turn to blend into upper class society.
His sister Fanny Lacklustre is a tradesperson in the morning and a lady in the afternoon, such are the complexities of the class system. Lady Katherine may feel contempt for her, and shows it, but she cannot resist the pressure to bring her into her world. Phoebe Fildes gives a great turn as the thick-skinned schemer, ignoring sleights, ever smiling and pressing on with her plans.
Then there are the children. I particularly liked Rosalind Ford as a naive, confused Imogen Twombley. She is in love with Valentine, a hairy, smelly explorer who won’t settle for domesticity, and played by George Blagden with panache. Unfortunately, her parents have promised her to a rich Scottish laird, Sir Colin McPhail. And here we come to the highest comedy of the evening. Sir Colin is taciturn and shy. Played by Matthew Woodyatt, he’s a lumbering giant ties himself in knots trying to proclaim his feelings, while his mother Lady MacPhail speaks for him and at times the whole of Scotland. Played by Dillie Keane, best known as part of Fascinating Aida, she is an over-the-top Scot forever banging on about the glens and hills of her beloved country.
Attempting to matchmake is Dora, the Dowager Countess of Drumdurris. She constantly appears and disappears through the two doors in classic farce fashion. Sara Crowe was indisposed when I saw the show. While her last minute replacement read the lines well from a script, we lost some of the speed that I am sure was intended by movement director Joanna Goodwin.
Members of the cast play musical instruments. This device is used regularly by The Watermill Theatre and by Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of). It is highly effective in establishing mood and sometimes character and can also help keep us the audience at bay in a play where we are deliberately distanced from being emotionally involved with the characters.
I mentioned Nancy Carroll has packed her adaptation with innuendoes. If you’d like an example, I’ll give you one. At one musical moment, Fanny offers to fiddle with flute playing Sir Julian.
The sets and costumes by Janet Bird are terrific. The Menier stage area is quite small but versatile. On this occasion, the audience is on two sides, creating an intimate drawing room feel. The costumes are sumptuous, looking fin de siecle and subtly reflecting the characters. The Twombleys’ home is decorated minmally but with a chintzy late Victorian style including a chaise longue and of course a piano.
The portrait of high society and its fragility, as well as the seriousness of debt, would have been much more recognisable to a Victorian audience, but we are still a class-ridden society and the characters’ many pretensions hit home. And without it ever needing to be stated explicitly, the references to corrupt politics and donations in exchange for influence show times haven’t changed as much as we might hope. I’m sure the rumours that Lord Ali gave Sir Keir tickets for the opening night are entirely without foundation.
