Duke of York’s Theatre
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
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