Ben Daniels towers in expressionist take on Rattigan
Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre
Man And Boy was a late play from Terence Rattigan, long after his golden reputation had been washed away by the new wave of ‘kitchen sink’ dramatists. It is largely neglected, and some critics thought it deserved to be (‘Rattigan’s plot isn’t far removed from dime fiction’ said The Times). Others loved the way director Anthony Lau ‘throws off the shackles of realism’ (Time Out) to make it seem contemporary. All agreed that Ben Daniels‘ performance as the 1930s amoral millionaire Antonescu, who tries to pimp out his adult son (Laurie Kynaston) to save his business, was award worthy.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski enthused: ‘Anthony Lau’s production is the first Rattigan I’ve seen that throws off the shackles of naturalism.’ The design, he said, ‘sets Rattigan free from chintzy tradition, and when combined with Angus MacRae’s wild, jazzy score gives the whole thing a sense of danger, unpredictability and transcendence of a specific time and place. It also liberates star Ben Daniels from period constraints, freeing him up to deliver what is easily the best stage performance of the year to date.’ His portrayal was ‘seethingly dangerous, his shark-like charm punctuated by flashes of bottomless rage and an unsettling, insectoid physicality as he prowls and scuttles over the tables.’ He summed it up as: ‘a wild production that tears up everything we thought we knew about how to stage good old Terence Rattigan.’
4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑
WhatsOnStage‘s Sarah Crompton observed: ‘Watching it in the light of the Epstein scandal, it feels pressingly pertinent in its depiction of a valueless world where everything has a price – even love. With the peerless Ben Daniels outstanding as Antonescu, it has a savagery and sharpness that make it utterly compelling.’ Shew continued in her praise of Daniels, calling him ‘magnificent’: ‘We first see him waiting to enter, black raincoat buttoned up to his neck, his face impassive, his profile eagle-like…he’s like a force-field of energy, with a serpentine, seductive charm that can’t quite disguise either his anxiety about his ruin or his essential toughness. He’s a master of the universe, bestriding the stage like a colossus.’
Anya Ryan of LondonTheatre found: ‘Ben Daniels is triumphant as Antonescu – a performance that should surely earn him an award nomination or two. Commanding the stage, lizard-like and menacing, he orders those around him to follow his instructions with the easy authority of a man long accustomed to obedience.’ She concluded: ‘Man and Boy may still not show Rattigan at his most humanly rich. But this production – in all its ruthless, game-playing glory – surely shows the play in its finest light.’
Clementine Scott at BroadwayWorld agreed: ‘this is an astutely written drama the National were right to revisit.’
3 stars ⭑⭑⭑
The Independent‘s Alice Saville pointed out: ‘No one in this play has the intellectual heft or bravery to remotely challenge Antonescu, and that makes it ultimately unsatisfying to watch.’. Her response to the show was subdued: ‘Rattigan’s play unfurls soberly and without remorse for either characters or audience (…) Lau’s production tries to inject a bit of energy by getting the actors to clamber incongruously over tables, or by crushing them under a lighting grid that descends worryingly close to the stage, or by having them sway in dim light like they’re in a slo-mo fight scene. These witty touches are refreshing – but they feel like a bit of a mismatch with Rattigan’s serious portrait of moral corruption, which offers more to respect than to enjoy.’
The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish was reserved in his praise: ‘While the two lead performances in Anthony Lau’s revival at the National compel, its glaring deficit is that it strains too hard to jazz things up experimentally.’
Sam Marlowe of The Stage wrote a review of two halves. It started well: ‘Reconfigured in this production by Anthony Lau, which gives it a dash of expressionism, the play leaps along in exuberantly grotesque fashion, far removed from conventional Rattigan stagings. It’s still an uneven piece, but it feels both pertinent and darkly entertaining here – thanks in no small degree to an enthralling central performance from Ben Daniels’. It didn’t end so positively: ‘Things go awry, unfortunately, in the second half, when the action calls for more humanity and emotional sincerity, which seems at odds with Lau’s heightened, almost grimly farcical staging.’
Over at The ArtsDesk, If the first half sees Antonescu at his diabolical best, while setting up a bleak confrontation between father and son, the second fails to deliver on that tension, settling for a rather conventional comeuppance with few surprises and little satisfaction in how the central relationship plays itself out. There could have been real tragedy here. Nonetheless, Daniels continues to hold the attention, adeptly shifting his physicality from strength to frailty.’
2 stars ⭑⭑
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar wasn’t impressed: ‘Director Anthony Lau has put a thoroughly new spin on this old yarn but one which sadly drains the emotion and tragedy.’ Her demolition was thorough: ‘The first half is pulled down by the weight of its laboured reinvention. The drama is so arch that it seems operatic – the bigger the performances, the more you feel removed from Rattigan’s subtexts.’ It clearly left her cold: ‘It engages more when some of the theatrics are dropped, a little too late…so much distance has been created that his downfall becomes emotionally remote, his self-loathing rejection of filial love understood rather than felt.’
The Times‘ Clive Davis was scathing: ‘Sadly, Anthony Lau’s febrile expressionist production is so overheated that it’s impossible to ignore the implausibilities in the storyline. Financiers are a strange breed, as we’re reminded every time a batch of Epstein files drops, but Rattigan’s plot isn’t far removed from dime fiction’. He continued: ‘that fine actor Ben Daniels is required to play the villain as a shrill, camp figure — think Rudolf Nureyev channelling Professor Moriarty. And if Georgia Lowe’s Dorfman set looks stunning at first glance … you find yourself wondering why the principal characters are jumping on to tables whenever they want to deliver a speech.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.3⭑
Mand And Boy can be seen at the National’s Dorfman Theatre until 14 March 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre.
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