Revenge tragedy show divides critics

The Bridge Theatre

The critics were as divided as the family they witnessed pulling itself apart in Simon Stone‘s adaptation of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. Some were gripped by its entire length (‘relentlessly gripping, its three-and-a-half hours whizzing by’ Time Out), others couldn’t wait for it to finish (‘a very long evening’ The Times). Placing a modern family in designer Lizzie Clachan‘s glass tank appealed to some but not others. Ditto taking out the moral element of Greek tragedy. The acting of David Morrissey, Mary-Louise Parker, Rosie Sheehy and Tom Glynn-Carney, was universally praised.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

For Olivia Rook at LondonTheatre it couldn’t have been better: ‘The brutal conflict that occurs within the walls of the Middleton home (is) a microcosm for the wars waging beyond their front door. There is no doubt Stone’s adaptation is a play for today — and one that the Greeks would be proud of.’ She explained: ‘Stone has taken Aeschylus’ tale of cycles of trauma and revenge and placed it in the well-to-do yet dysfunctional home of the Middletons, showing how political misalignment, greed, generational trauma, and mental illness can tear a family apart.’ She described the process: ‘Stone cleverly uses an oscillating timeline — between the play’s beginnings in 2016 and the present day — to unpack how these lies and secrets lead to a suicide and four grisly murders, peeling back the layers of the play like an open wound that refuses to heal.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis described the set: ‘the play happens in a glass cube, an opulent modernist mansion in miniature from Lizzie Clachan – concrete walls, chrome-edged recliners – lit from within by Nick Schlieper, turning each scene into a modern Gothic tableau.’ The occupants of the cube impressed him: ‘David Morrissey does what he does pre-eminently, i.e. gruff patriarch battling demons. It’s a joy to see Mary-Louise Parker bring her ironic half-smile … and even more so to watch her descent into grief and bitterness and finally a dead-eyed despair.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski called it ‘trashy as hell and yet relentlessly gripping, its three-and-a-half hours whizzing by.’

The Financial Times‘ Sarah Hemming described how Aeschylus’ work  is ‘reimagined in a shattering, superbly acted psychodrama about generational discord, inherited trauma and the insane, implacable logic of war. Yes, it’s flecked with black comedy, but, fundamentally, it’s steeped in despair and blazing anger: an Oresteia for our broken world.’ As to the acting: ‘the younger generation is outstanding. Sheehy’s Alice is a study in lost purpose and numbing grief, and, fleetingly, as the more dynamic Isobel; Glynn-Carney’s Augie is disturbing and vulnerable, undone by the psychiatric scars of childhood trauma and military service in Afghanistan.’

The Independent’s Alice Saville began: ‘The Oresteia is famously messed up, following a family that hacks itself apart in a frenzy of bloodshed and revenge. Even so, there’s something joltingly dark and merciless about Simon Stone’s latest,characteristically free take on a classic. On the stage of the Bridge Theatre, he traps his characters in a giant glass tank like lobsters in a seafood restaurant, then makes them fight until they’re devoured by a pitiless world. It’s uncomfortable, agonisingly drawn out, and brilliant.’ She added enthusiastically: ‘this is a masterfully constructed play, turning a familiar story into a consistently tense murder mystery with an artfully splintered timeline. Miraculously, its three-and-a-half-hour runtime never feels long, thanks to two intervals and an endless stock of boxset-worthy twists and shifts of mood.’

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton said the ‘dialogue is fast-paced, overlapping, and convincingly real. Stone plays with the timeframe, darting back and forwards through events over a decade from 2016 until 2026, turning them into a thriller as much as a tragedy.’ She praised his direction: ‘direction is impeccable, constantly ratcheting up the pressure while allowing the characters space to breathe.’ She described the ending: ‘There is – in contrast to Aeschylus’s dramatic arc over his trilogy of plays – no resolution, no forgiveness or justice. Stone’s stripped-back, brutal version strands us with the overwhelming sense of chaos that violence, compromise, and constant war bring. This is Greek tragedy for an age of insanity.’

‘It’s not flawless, but it is thrilling theatre’ declared The Sunday Times’ Dominic Maxwell.  He explained he had mixed feelings and gave us a spoiler to explain why: ‘When it’s a 21st-century Abigail’s Party streaked with slaughter, it’s truly great. Now and then it succumbs to overthinking or the comedy gets too broad. Worse, when you finally learn of Isobel’s fate, it turns out that Christopher has figuratively sacrificed his daughter for his career, not literally like Agamemnon did. The ending feels badly fudged as a result.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar was less enamoured by the production: ‘Like a TV thriller, the action holds you, but the frenetic plotting does not leave much room for the psychological element.There is a lack of internal logic to the plotting and flat, shrill characters.’

Dave Fargnoli of The Stage also had reservations about the adaptation: ‘Stone’s adaptation boils out all of the tale’s grandeur and moral struggle, leaving us with a grubby story of shame and needless killing (…) Despite the undeniable ferocity of the performances, Stone’s unrestrained revenge saga feels strangely bloodless.’ He wondered whether putting the cast behind glass might be partly to blame: ‘On press night at least, the result was a distinctly muffled, echoey sound that robbed some performer’s lines of depth and texture. Stone’s commitment to capturing the realistic rhythms of conversation leads to constantly overlapping dialogue and argumentative interruptions that further garble his text.’ Nevertheless he admired the actors: ‘The entire cast is fully committed, and its characters’ relationships feel meaty and richly drawn, offering unexpected twists on their classical counterparts.’

Alexander Cohen for BroadwayWorld gave credit to the actors: ‘Rosy Sheehy is a standout as Alice, whose insecurity, we can detect bubbling beneath the surface. Mary-Louise Parker’s Monty (standing in for Clytemnestra), is all clipped vowels and controlled stillness that culminates in a tangibly terrifying climax.’ But he opined: ‘Although suavely cloaked in contemporary dress, the underlying dynamics don’t quite translate. Greek tragedy demands that the killing be both morally understandable and unconscionable at once. Isabelle takes her own life rather than being sacrificed by Christopher, and the cycle of revenge that follows never garners the weight it needs. By the end of a gruelling three and a half hours, there isn’t much moral meat left on the bone, just a slasher gorefest.’

Claire Allfree for the Telegraph warned: ‘There is … a problem with tone. Often, there is too thin a line between the default mode of excoriating black wit and glib farce. Some of the more political declamations feel like mini-lectures. And it’s almost impossible to take the shock-and-awe grotesquerie of Part Three seriously’.

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Times’ Clive Davis had a long evening but he began with a positive: ‘he certainly gets some potent performances out of a cast led by David Morrissey and the American actress Mary-Louise Parker. It’s quite possible to spend half of a very long evening admiring Lizzie Clachan’s revolving set, even though you have the nagging feeling that Stone’s penchant for locking actors inside glass boxes is subject to diminishing returns.’ He concluded: ‘None of these privileged folk win your sympathy. Tableaux are intercut as if we are watching a screen thriller, albeit one in which every other scene goes missing. If you’re not familiar with the original sources, you’ll be confused. But even if you know the texts by heart, you may still be in the dark at the end.’

Critics’ average rating 3.7⭑

Value rating 41 (Critics’ rating divided by typical ticket price)

The Oresteia can be seen at the Bridge Theatre until 19 September 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre www.bridgetheatre.co.uk

If you’ve seen The Oresteia at The Bridge Theatre, please leave a review and/or rating

Laughter and tears in musical about gays and miners

Dorfman, National Theatre

The National Theatre’s musical adaptation of Pride, the popular film about a gay campaign group who supported the miners’ strike, went down well with most of the critics. It probably helped that the film’s writer and director took on the same roles for the stage version. The Guardian (5 stars) called it ‘deeply moving, deeply important’. There were dissenting voices: some found that it skimmed over some of the serious stuff, but only the Telegraph (2 stars) found it a ‘dud’.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Helpfully, Tom Wicker summarised his Time Out review in his first paragraph: ‘Writer Stephen Beresford’s musical adaptation of his own 2014 film is a triumph. Under the assured direction of Matthew Warchus – who also directed the film – with a by-turns playful and powerful score by Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde, Pride succeeds in packing a wallop of an emotional punch while never neglecting to find the very human humour in even its most sombre moments. It’s an impassioned and timely plea for seeking out common ground. You’ll laugh-cry your way through it.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar reported: ‘It is all so agile on its feet, the action taking place on the kind of makeshift scaffold and gantry structure (designed by Bunny Christie) on which protest speeches are made and banners brandished. The show pares away some scenes from the film (although it keeps the best lines of the screenplay) but bulks it up with song, movement and an abundant theatrical imagination.’ She concluded: ‘As a musical, it becomes more than the sum of its parts: a remarkable piece of British social history, deeply moving, deeply important.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton was on board: ‘It is extraordinarily difficult not to be entranced by the sheer hopefulness of the story and the flair of the telling in the capable hands of this ensemble. True, the facts … have been softened and the rough edges of prejudice and resistance smoothed from the narrative even more than in the film’ but ‘its evocation of community is both heart-raising and tear-jerking. Its belief that life can be better catches a chord.’ She also mentioned the contribution of the design: ‘On Bunny Christie’s adaptable set of scaffolding, cleverly lit by Hugh Vanstone to change mood and scene, the musical moves through this story with great verve and good humour, while underlining its key themes.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis called it ‘hugely charming and affecting, if imperfect.’ He explained that ‘Narratively speaking, on stage Pride has a great middle but a weak beginning and end.’ However, ‘There are superb songs here that expand and illuminate the story’. He praised the production: ‘Warchus’s production has a can-do, scratch-built 80s vibe, all hand-painted protest banners, dungarees and Doc Martens, with the band atop Bunny Christie’s scaffolding set. He praised the cast: ‘Lumsden is a charismatic, impetuous Mark, balanced by Matthew Durkan’s more solid and earnest Mike. Barnett knowingly steals every scene he’s in. Sarah Pugh is terrific as Siân’.

CityAM‘s Adam Bloodworth declared: ‘The songbook, by composer Christopher Nightingale, Josh Cohen and DJ Walde features plenty of earworms.’ He also reported: ‘There are also a handful of roaring comedic skits’, although ‘the tendency to go for laughs and lightness in the first act means the grit and more difficult parts of the story are occasionally glossed over’. He ended: ‘gentle reportage of the miners and the gays standing together, arm in arm on the picket line, provides plenty. The final scene elicits one of the largest communal sobs I’ve ever heard in the theatre. This is Russell T Davies level of finding the joy in the sadness, but live, on stage.’

Louis for The Independent was happy with the adaptation: ‘“Uplifting” and “crowdpleasing” are adjectives that cynics tend to baulk at, but Pride is utterly successful in owning them. When things take a sombre turn towards the end – any queer story set in 1984 is inevitably going to brush up against the Aids crisis – it navigates this tonal shift remarkably well. People around me in the audience were sobbing. That everybody ultimately left the theatre feeling not devastated but enlivened is a testament to Pride’s deft, noble manipulations.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Times’ Dominic Maxwell picked his highlight: ‘Samuel Barnett (never better) as the flamboyant actor Jonathan does a fine disco routine in the community hall. It’s a highlight because of Lizzi Gee’s choreography, but also because it comes with some real emotion between him and another character. Elsewhere more friction is needed, more knots of drama to help all the eventual validation to feel fully earned.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish was disappointed: ‘The main deficiency is that, beyond delineating the way initial prejudice towards the well-meaning outsiders is overcome (up to a point), the struggles of the strike itself – and the fate of the mining towns – play second fiddle to the gay cohort’s journeys of discovery’. He continued: ‘There’s no doubting the energy, talent and commitment of everyone involved (Samuel Barnett steals the show as the flamboyant activist Jonathan Blake, using disco to break the ice), but it falls far short of the required landmark.’

Critics’ average rating 3.9⭑

Pride can be seen at the the Dorfman in the National Theatre until 12 September 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre (the run is sold out but some tickets will be available online each Friday noon.)

If you’ve seen Pride at the Dorfman, please leave your review and/or rating below

JCS is back but is Sam Ryder the true Messiah?

London Palladium, then Theatre Royal Drury Lane

The 10 year old Regents Park Open Air Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice‘s early hit musical has finally made it to the West End. It was accompanied by the same team of creatives- Timothy Sheader (director), Drew McConie (choreographer) and Tom Scutt (designer), and some of the same cast including Tyrone Huntley as Judas. The star attraction newcomer is Sam Ryder as Jesus. A string of celebrities take turns to play Herod. Any hope that this production might emulate the success of Evita which made a similar journey from Regents Park to the Palladium last year was dashed by the contrasting mix of enthusiastic and lukewarm reviews. While Ryder’s ‘inherent niceness’ had some critics reaching for superlatives, others found him characterless. Many critics came down hard on the basic story. While most thought the music held up, some criticised its loudness. However, they were unanimous in their praise of Tyrone Huntley.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Not every critic had a downer on the star. Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre reported: ‘Ryder is also a canny choice given that Sheader’s revival rousingly honours the show’s original 1970 concept album. This rock gig ethos is embedded into every purposeful creative choice, such as the handheld microphone that people tussle over; later, Jesus is bound with electrical cords. It connects us, too, with one of the major ideas: the unwieldy might of celebrity (…) This Jesus’s totemic power fuels delirious worshippers, alarms his detractors, and becomes a burden for the increasingly lonely man himself. Ryder beautifully conveys that anxiety, and is very affecting in the show’s harrowing final stages.’

In contrast to some reviewers who found that the music drowned the drama and that Ryder’s Jesus was too nice, WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Hemming embraced these aspects of the show: ‘Sheader’s approach is to re-emphasise the boldness, to let the music carry the drama, and to let character emerge. The approach pays dividends in Ryder’s Jesus, a performance defined by his popstar presence and by the soar of his voice in that falsetto register. People respond to him because he seems genuine and nice; he brings both those qualities to his portrayal in his West End debut, but also finds true drama as the show reaches its un-triumphal conclusion of sacrifice and suffering.’

The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish concentrated on Sam Ryder ‘The key to his success is that he plays JC with sincerity, not starriness (…) For a moment, you worry that Ryder is too meek and mild a hero, even anodyne. But daring us to be disappointed tallies with the show’s accusatory argument about the pressures of showbiz expectation. And that achieves a blistering pay-off in the climactic title number, its infectious gospel energy offset by the visceral spectacle of a bloodied Christ being assaulted. It’s as if we are implicated in the mob brutality and betrayal. The humble sight of Christ roped to a makeshift cross beneath a giant suspended crucifix shames us with its simplicity; less is transcendently more.’

4 stars

BroadwayWorld‘s Aliya Al-Hussan pointed out: ‘It takes a talented director to create a show from a soundtrack that retains huge appeal, but sometimes lacks personal story arcs. Sheader’s engaging staging and a hugely talented cast bring the album powerfully to life.’ She praised the star: ‘Ryder’s West End debut brings raw vulnerability and real passion to the role. His vocal range and control are highly impressive’. She wasn’t sure about the sound: ‘Musical director Tom Deering goes big on volume, driving the electrifying live orchestra with huge energy. This comes at the cost of some of the vocals at the start and indeed the second half throbs with intent more than the first.’

The Independent‘s Alice Saville was a Ryder fan: ‘As Jesus, Ryder looks the part, and more than sounds it, too – without having the acting experience to show us this monumental figure’s inner struggles. But perhaps that’s fitting for a story that leaves the details of Jesus’s fate deliberately ambiguous, and that unfolds with its own logic, like a lucid dream. Just follow Mary Magdalene’s advice – “Close your eyes, and relax” – and you’ll sink into the glorious sounds of a voice that’s achieved divine status.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis began: ‘The through-sung score features one belter after another … But there’s little narrative (fair enough, we all know the plot), or character. We hear about Jesus’s charisma from others’ say-so but he’s an oddly passive, disgruntled central figure. This flaw is exacerbated in Tim Sheader’s otherwise thrilling, high-octane, concert-style production by the casting of Sam Ryder. The plucky Eurovision yodeller’s octave-hopping voice could strip paint when it comes to the impassioned high notes but he swallows the quieter passages of songs and his nice-guy disposition sits ill with Jesus’ grumpiness.’  He ended: ‘All together this is an OTT, aorta-pumping rollick through one of Lloyd Webber and Rice’s strongest musical collaborations, by a team who know that the score and the feel of it are all that matter. Jesus? Schmeesus.’

3 stars⭑⭑⭑

The Stage’s Sam Marlowe declared: ‘it’s now not only conspicuously dated, but also often downright daft.’ Having dispatched the musical, she considered the star: ‘as an actor, Ryder doesn’t quite convince; there’s a posturing, presentational flavour to his performance. And vocally, while he unsurprisingly has no difficulty soaring to the falsetto heights of the role, he’s less comfortable in the lower register’. She preferred Tyrone Huntley’s Judas: ’His portrayal of this most notorious of traitors is rivetingly full-throttle – pained, impassioned, perplexed, furious, guilt-stricken and distraught by turns … And his voice is a marvel, endlessly elastic yet impeccably controlled, sweetness and abrasiveness deftly deployed.’

The evening passed pleasantly for Dominic Maxwell of The Times: ‘It lacks emotion but I never found it remotely dull either.’ He warned: ‘amid Drew McOnie’s pleasing but impressionistic choreography on Tom Scutt’s ancient-meets-modern set you may lose track of which imposing fella is which’. He picked out two of the cast for special mention: ‘Huntley is a highlight, making real human complexity poke its face out of this megawatt machine. Desmonda Cathabel is an easy presence as Mary Magdalene: Everything’s Alright flows like water.’

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski laid into the star, beginning with: ‘Sam Ryder is not the Messiah.’ He said he ‘looks like a mildly perturbed middle manager distracted by some tricky mental arithmetic (…) he is at best okay in a lead role that demands greatness (…) He’s a pop star – but we needed a superstar.’ It wasn’t all bad for Andrzej: ‘elsewhere it’s a pretty damn good production. Sheader’s cast look like sexy apocalypse survivors as they lock into Drew McOnie’s deliciously weird and angular choreography. Tom Scutt’s scaffold set is stark but ominously symbolic’.

The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar noted: ‘the first thing that hits you here is the sound, which contains Greek levels of melodrama. It’s a shame it stays at a single, fever-pitched high, flattening the emotional drama. Still, there is the glory of the signature song, Superstar, and the vocal blast of both Ryder and Huntley is a sound to behold.’ ‘But the characterisation is far less satisfying’ she continued: ‘Ryder’s portrayal is so woolly that you don’t know what Jesus stands for. So it becomes difficult to pinpoint what, exactly, Judas dislikes: is it that Jesus has gone too far, as Judas repeats, or not far enough?’

Fiona Mountford posts a rare review in the i (assumed 3 stars). She didn’t like the sound: ‘[Jesus] and Judas (a blazing Tyrone Huntley) prowl the stage with rock-star-style, hand-held microphones; occasionally, the amplification blurs the clarity of the lyrics, which causes problems for a show where all the storytelling is done through song.’

Critics’ average rating 3.9⭑

Value rating 31 (Combination of critics’ rating and typical ticket price)

Jesus Christ Superstar can be seen at the London Palladium until 5 September 2026 before moving on to Theatre Royal Drury Lane from 16 October 2026 to 9 January 2027. After that there is a tour. Buy tickets directly from www.andrewlloydwebber.com/show/jesus-christ-superstar

If you’ve seen Jesus Christ Superstar at The Palladium, please leave your review and/or rating below

Great songs don’t save shallow musical bio

Aldwych Theatre

The critics liked the music in Sinatra The Musical but were not so keen on the book. They mostly felt Joel Harper-Jackson sounded the part but didn’t look it.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Marianka Swain for The Telegraph called it ‘a turbulent experience, boasting more than 20 Sinatra hits and sleek, glossy staging, but is let down by poor writing that never quite gets under the legendary artist’s skin.’ She went on: ‘Thankfully, the terrific performances elevate the material. Joel Harper-Jackson is an effortlessly charismatic, if aptly obnoxious, young Sinatra, and his singing is impressively close to the real thing: soaring musicality, immaculate phrasing and soulful delivery. But it’s the formidable women who really dominate: Phoebe Panaretos’s fiercely uncompromising Nancy, Ana Villafañe’s worldly-wise Ava, Jenna Russell’s ball-busting Italian mamma, and Melissa Nettleford, as Billie Holiday, nailing the smoky torch song One for My Baby.’

Emma John for The Guardian noted: ‘the script often feels less three-dimensional than the video-assisted set design. Happily, Kathleen Marshall’s production, complete with a fine ensemble and some joyful choreography, doesn’t stint on the big hits’.

Franco Milazzo for BroadwayWorld said: ‘the emotionally vacant storyline boils down to a run-of-the-mill tale of a man haunted by his carnal desires and the women left to pick up the pieces after him (…) DiPietro has deliberately chosen to illustrate his subject from a palate based on a small but crucial period of his career. By narrowing the musical’s scope to his early years, though, the production finishes well short of the better known chapters of his life, leaving the narrative feeling frustratingly incomplete.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming articulated ‘the show’s central concern: the tensions between love, artistic integrity and fame’ but ‘We never get under the skin of these fascinating characters, or of the real human dilemmas here.’ She liked the star: ‘Harper-Jackson is vocally great: he has a sumptuous voice and soaring delivery — close your eyes, and you might imagine he was the real thing — and he suggests something of the charisma and volatility of his character. But he’s hampered by a script that never gets more than skin-deep.’

Alun Hood at WhatsOnStage sang from same songbook: ‘Dramatically inert but musically magnificent, this is a solid tribute to a singular talent’.

2 stars ⭑⭑

Maddy Mussen for The Standard did it her way: ‘Teams of archaeologists could labour for decades without unearthing the point of this show. Lavishly mounted but lamely written and characterised, it imperfectly hammers hits from Frank Sinatra’s back catalogue into a misconceived triumph-over-adversity narrative that covers nine years of his life. Why? For whom?’ The songs prompted more questions: ‘These remain, mostly, great songs. But who wants to hear them in a rickety, partial and hagiographic stage musical that whitewashes a complicated and frankly unpleasant individual? Frankly Unpleasant: now that’s the Sinatra musical I might pay to see.’

Critics’ average rating 2.8⭑

Value rating 28 (Critics’ rating combined with typical ticket price)

Sinatra The Musical can be seen at The Aldwych until 10 April 2027. Buy tickets directly from the producers

If you’ve seen Sinatra The Musical at The Aldwych, please leave your review and/or rating below

Russell Tovey commanding in theatrical thriller

Donmar Warehouse

None of the critics went so far as to give it five stars, citing plot weaknesses, but the almost unanimous 4 star reviews spoke of the tenseness of this thriller which is told in real time. They all agreed that Russell Tovey gave a powerful performance as a cop on the edge handling emergency calls, and desperately trying to prevent a tragedy. Chloe Moss’ script adapted from the film played its part in creating a stressful hour, as did the direction by Felix Barrett, who directed Paranormal Activity.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish summed up: ‘in a taut stage adaptation … Russell Tovey delivers a solo tour de force as Joe, answering calls on a shift fraught with life-and-death decisions.’ He went on: ‘We picture the unfolding scene with him, and are taken inside a kind of labyrinth. It’s a twisty tale, but as it elicits one satisfying surprise after another, it probes something existential and timely: how thin the line is between those who protect us and those who threaten us, and how narrow the gap is, too, between cool certainty and wild conjecture. It’s a gripping portrait of one man in extremis, but, with adrenal force, it inculpates us all, too.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar called it ‘a fantastically theatrical experience, part crime thriller and part ghost story…with the kind of razor suspense that fills you with dread and leaves you palpitating.’ She continued: ‘this is the most thrilling and visceral drama. Not a minute wasted, not a beat missed. No less than a white knuckle ride.’ She observed: ‘Moss manages to add the desperation and helplessness of those suffering extreme mental states and the sense of desertion they feel from wider systems. It is subtle social commentary but also feels human and utterly tragic.’

Dominic Maxwell of The Times enthused: ‘The Guilty is a delight, fast-moving and genuinely theatrical in the way it puts you in its hero’s head. Tovey is exceptional: a huge stage presence, yes, but one who always looks driven by events rather than any desire to impress.’ He concluded: ‘an ending of Greek dramatic proportions teeters into melodrama. No matter: the ride is what matters, the ride delivers.’

‘Adaptor Chloë Moss and director Felix Barrett have created a wholly theatrical, palm-sweating marvel’ said Anya Ryan for LondonTheatre. She ended: ‘Supported by an ever-varied, tremendous, unseen voice cast, the four walls of the call room expand out. We hear children, distressed neighbours, Joe’s laddish mates, and another policeman on trial, all through a phone line. But so strong is the acting, we can picture them, too. In the final section, the twists arrive fast and furious, with the final set-breaking-apart image being one of pure dramatic gold.’

The Stage‘s Sam Marlowe pointed out: ‘alongside the play’s nail-biting tension is a preoccupation with the gaps between what we see and what we assume, and the ways in which our minds can play tricks on us when we only know half the story. The production is directed by Felix Barrett – who … is adept at springing surprises and subverting expectations. He and Moss have plenty of impish fun shredding our nerves and leading us down narrative rabbit holes, aided by a superlative, sweatily intense solo onstage performance by Russell Tovey.’

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski considered elements of the production: ‘Subtle shifts in light and the crackly strangeness of the calls he receives take on a feverish, nocturnal quality, only growing stranger as the show wears on.’ He decided: ‘Barrett’s direction provides an alluring air of ambiguity, but at the same time it’s mostly a bloody good real-time thriller. Running to just an hour, some of the plot twists are a touch melodramatic, but they have a rollercoaster momentum that means there’s no pause to be cynical, as Tovey’s character makes one fateful decision after the other, in the moment.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming was another critic impressed by the director: ‘Barrett skilfully uses the power of the onstage monologue and the electricity of live theatre to depict Joe’s isolation and to fuse his critical dependence on phones with the fear of voices in his head and his disintegrating mental state. Gareth Fry’s superb sound design throbs, crackles, creates a range of both realistic and disturbing offstage scenarios down the line, and plays its part in a revealing coup de théâtre at the end. There’s a slightly queasy mismatch between the thriller format and the gravity of the issues it covers (post-partum psychosis, for example), some plot twists grate, and there’s a streak of melodrama to the ending. But then we are never sure what is real and what is not: how much of it is in Joe’s head; how much of it is in our own.’

Commenting on director Felix Barrett, The Standard‘s Nick Curtis declared: ‘There is surely no more effective manipulator of mood and pace working in British theatre today. I can feel my scalp tightening, thinking again about the chilling surprises The Guilty meticulously springs in both plot and staging.’

BroadwayWorld‘s Aliya Al-Hassan was impressed by the star: ‘Russell Tovey is utterly compelling as Joe: quick to anger with a caller ringing about a neighbour’s loud party, tender with his own daughter and increasingly frantic as he tries everything within his restricted power to help Emily. Tovey carries conviction into every action, from the mundane dropping of an antacid into a glass of water to his panicky pacing liked a caged animal.’ She paid tribute to the creative team: ‘Gareth Fry’s sound design is simply exceptional, creating stark clarity between the multiple callers and Joe’s own voice. As a clock ticks ominously in the windowless space, down the various lines, sirens blare out, rain steadily falls and muffled background sounds all create a highly realistic reflection of the world outside. This is all aided beautifully by lighting designer Anna Watson who creates a flat and airless space which occasionally shifts into something completely different.’

3 stars

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton found much to admire : ‘Tovey is superb, commanding the stage, his reactions – a fractional raise of the eyebrows when someone annoys him, a rising sense of involvement and concern when he realises he truly is in the midst of an emergency, a flash of anger when his wife tries to cut him off – always readable, always convincing (…) It is a brilliantly contrived and executed theatrical experience.’ However:  ‘My problem was that I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t buy the idea that a man in Joe’s position would be entrusted – alone – with such a job, or that he would react in quite the ways he does. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief, so I was always distanced from what is undoubtedly an extraordinarily gripping and clever piece.’

Critics’ average rating 3.9⭑

The Guilty can be seen at The Donmar Warehouse until 15 August 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre 

Click here to read Paul Seven’s review here

If you’ve seen The Guilty at The Donmar, please leave your review and/or rating below

Four fabulous fibbing performers

Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue

Florian Zeller’s comedy about adultery, deceit and the dangers of truth features twist after twist. Comedy is so often a matter of taste, so it was either ‘seat-shakingly funny’ (Guardian 5⭑) or ‘ponderous’ (Stage 2⭑).Most of the critics praised the cast of Stephen Mangan (‘fantastically enjoyable’ Time Out), Ardal O’Hanlan, Sarah Hadland and Janie Dee.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Mark Lawson for The Guardian defined it as ‘a modern French farce that adds to the form’s physical comedy a metaphysical dimension about whether accuracy and veracity are possible or even sensible. Across seven scenes, each featuring two characters, alibis overlap and contradict. Lies may be a tactic to expose truth and vice versa until the plot twists into a double helix of deceit.’ The play, he said, ‘is made seat-shakingly funny by four fabulously fibbing performers.’

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish called it ‘a spiralling comedy of infidelity and duplicity.’ He thought the star was well cast: ‘Mangan makes this brazen liar sheepishly appealing even when he’s being frankly appalling.’ He discovered: ‘There’s an underlying truth here to the way lies make the world go round, and an old-fashioned theatrical pleasure emerges from seeing yarns being frantically spun (…) there’s ample fun to be had and a surprisingly satisfying sting to the froth.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming noted: ‘It’s nowhere near as deep or moving as The Father, and the characters are supremely self-obsessed, but still there is something very sad about their predicament. And this clever, elusive comedy touches on profound questions about the meaning and malleability of truth.’

Caroline McGinn for Time Out declared: ‘Mangan fans won’t be disappointed, his performance is more than worth the entry fee. He is fantastically enjoyable as Michel, bringing irresistible hangdog charm and ageing himbo vibes to the character who believes he is successfully deceiving everyone around him. His epic tantrum on discovering that he is the more deceived is hilarious: utterly hypocritical, and heartfelt. Michel’s arc is the driving force of the story and when Mangan commits to his outrage, it lifts the comedy to the next level and really makes it grip.’

The Standard‘s Nicjk Curtis called the play ‘a manically effervescent, farcical comedy of manners in Lindsay Posner’s starry, polished revival (…) This is a glossy, old-fashioned West End night out, and none the worse for that.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

The Times’ Clive Davis found it ‘breezes along with a wry, occasionally self-satisfied grin on its face (…) The director Lindsay Posner keeps the complications and deceptions bubbling along.’ He seemed to have left the theatre inmoved: ‘Designer Lizzie Clachan’s hotel and domestic interiors are self-consciously sterile. The psychological asides may be quintessentially French, but they’re not particularly profound.’

Matt Wolf at LondonTheatre noted: ‘The problem is that shows constructed with this sort of Swiss watch precision aren’t quite so revelatory upon renewed dissection. As someone already familiar with The Truth, I admit to sometimes feeling that I was watching a well-oiled theatrical machine cranking into gear: the play on second viewing has a faintly mechanical aspect, though the skill of the cast – led by Mangan in superlative overdrive – is never in doubt (…) Posner’s cast navigates the changes in tone and knows how to downplay the gathering reliance on contrivance and coincidence.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

For Dave Fargnoli of The Stage stated:’the action feels ponderous, the script strangely flat-footed. Here, every conversation eventually becomes trapped in repetitive rhetorical loops as the characters bat the same lines back and forth between them, systematically draining them of impact (…) Posner sets such a rattling pace, and encourages such big, explosive deliveries where more subtle responses might be more effective, that many of the text’s nuances are lost.’

Critics’ average rating 3.6⭑

Value for money 40 (Typical price combined with average rating)

The Truth can be seen at the Apollo Theatre until 12 September 2026. Buy tickets from the producers www.thetruthplay.com

Read Paul Seven’s review here

If you’ve seen The Truth at the Apollo Theatre, please leave your review and/or rating below

Not even Sandra Oh can save this toothless satire

Lyttelton Theatre at the National Theatre

Martin Crimp‘s latest adaptation of The Misanthrope moves Molière’s satirical classic to the present day and makes its protagonist a female novelist. It fires at too many targets without really scoring any hits, said most of the reviewers. Quite a few liked Sandra Oh as the gender-flipped people-hater.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Sunday Times’ Dominic Maxwell found: ‘You almost don’t notice how good Oh is because she makes you simply believe in the forever disgruntled, forever rhyming Alice.’ He was more appreciative of the adaptation than others: ‘It’s a story about trust, or the lack of it, and the shiny surfaces that some of us — most of us? — choose in preference to gnarly reality. Even before its surprisingly spectacular finale, it’s stranger, more raggedy and harder to fathom than the slick satire as which it first presents. And it makes its own gloriously off-kilter kind of sense.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton seemed to sum up everybody else’s reaction: ‘This is a Misanthrope full of interesting ideas and fine effects, but not quite enough bite or fury.’

Dave Fargnoli for The Stage said much the same: ‘Although the dialogue is snappy, the satire feels unfocused. Crimp mocks those who pay lip service to ideals of inclusivity, takes aim at the vanity of public figures and laments the myriad harms caused by the internet, but never lands a really shattering blow.’ On the other hand, he praised the director: ‘Indira Rubasingham’s judicious direction makes the piece feel lively and natural, despite all the intricate verbal artifice, with sparky sparring matches breaking out and conversations frequently descending into overlapping arguments.’ And the star: ‘Sandra Oh makes a brilliantly bitter Alice. By turns analytical, angry, cold and cruel, she tears strips off anyone who tries to sideline her, resolutely refusing to be ignored.’

Holly O’Mahony for LondonTheatre decided that Sandra Oh ‘brings great conviction and amusing bolshiness to the role. Like a kettle that’s just about to whistle, she practically vibrates under the effort of bottling up her disdain for other people. More often, of course, she insists on speaking her mind, even when her views are unpopular.’ But she too was disappointed with the adaptation: ‘if there are plenty of current, provocative references here, they’re flimsily addressed and leave little to chew over once the story peters out.’

The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar agreed: ‘With sprawling ideas and OTT satire, it is stuffed full of the debates of our time around female empowerment, patriarchy, digital rage, misinformation and the hollow language of “acceptance” with plenty of pops at theatre and bad writing. Not all of these issues seem to belong to a single play; they are bitten off but barely chewed.’ She continued: ‘The satirical elements are hard to anchor. Who is being satirised and why?’ And yet: ‘In the best dramatic moments it contains some riveting acting from Oh, who brings heart, fire, vulnerability and comic timing.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis sounded exasperated: ‘Too many scenes feature two people arguing, and many of them end abruptly. Crimp’s play and Rubasingham’s production are half in love with the rarefied world they are satirising. There are too many knowing asides for the cognoscenti, too many debates about the importance of writing.’

Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski was kind enough to open his review by saying: ‘Sandra Oh makes a very decent UK stage debut as Alice’. He then took the adaptation apart but ended by noting: ‘Anyway, after 90 minutes of feeling slightly less than the sum of its parts, Indhu Rubasingham’s production and Crimp’s text finally go gloriously mad for the final furlong, switching to Molière-style rhyming verse and leaving any sense of naturalism behind as Robert Jones’ hitherto realist set suddenly becomes… very strange. It’s a weird final sequence, but without unduly spoiling exactly what happens, it worked for me because it felt like Crimp was finally actually making a point.’

Annabel Nugent at The Independent found: ‘Crimp, … like a kid in a candy store, can’t decide and so takes one of everything. The result is a broad satire filled with platitudes and generalised debates about female empowerment, the patriarchy and trolls on the internet. Crimp aims his satire like a fine spritz rather than the firehose jet of Molière’s original.’ She said of the star: ‘Oh is decent enough at the protesting and proclaiming and denouncing and ranting that her role requires, but the actor is best in the play’s quieter moments, her fangs retracted and her soft underbelly exposed’.

The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish was underwhelmed by the star: ‘It too often feels like there’s an Oh-shaped hole in the production. The supporting performances are accomplished, with especially enjoyable work from Paul Chahidi as Alice’s gay playwright pal, and Rina Fatania as her insufferable reputation manager. But they crowd out the star attraction. The star strives to show us what she can do – eyes sealed in pent-up frustration, sorrow lurking in her insouciance. But she’s never really scary, and never makes us care, fully. Not her fault: she’s subject to killing even-handedness.’

The Financial Times’ Sarah Hemming was frustrated: ‘there are so many rolling plots and lines of attack that the narrative becomes overloaded and confusing, and Alice’s central predicament — conform or rebel — gets rather lost, together with the questions it poses to us all. Even so, Oh is riveting — waspishly funny, whilst suggesting her character’s despair and loneliness — and she’s supported by a very fine cast.’

2 stars ⭑⭑

Like his Times colleague Dominic Maxwell, Clive Davis was the only one of our chosen critics to break the 3-star consensus, except he went for one less. For him, not even Sandra Oh could save it: ‘I’m not sure anyone else could have salvaged a fatally cluttered romp that resembles an extended episode of Absolutely Fabulous with most of the wit surgically removed.’ He explained:’Part of the problem with this production, directed at a frenetic tempo by the National’s new boss Indhu Rubasingham … is that Oh’s delivery lacks nuance. We get disdainful snarls, but not much more.’ ‘By the time the piece stumbles towards its meta conclusion at a baroque-themed costume party, we’ve long ceased to care about the outcome. The wardrobe department comes up trumps, though.’

Critics’ average rating 3.0⭑

Value for money 33 (typical price vs average rating)

The Misanthrope can be seen at the Lyttelton Theatre until 1 August 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre Molière’s

If you’ve seen The Misanthrope at the National theatre, please leave your review and/or rating below