Triumphant transfer for ‘modern classic’
THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET
The ecstatic reaction to the National’s tiny Dorfman Theatre production of Beth Steel’s Till The Stars Come Down in early 2024 earned it a West End transfer. The critics were once again bowled over by this story of a working class wedding, which appeals not only because it’s very funny but also for its ‘Chekhovian sense of loss and yearning’, as Nick Curtis put it in his Standard review.
Scroll down for the 2024 reviews.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Five stars ★★★★★
Clive Davis harked back to the production’s first manifestation in the tiny Dorfman Theatre, when he awarded it four stars: ‘If anything, the more expansive setting means the occasionally self-conscious thrusts of pure theatricality, when realism gives way to sudden flights of visual poetry, actually seem even more convincing. On a second viewing, Steel’s portrait of a working-class community in red wall Nottinghamshire, immaculately directed by Bijan Sheibani…looks even more of a modern classic.’ He explained: ‘Steel’s writing is a magnificent combination of earthiness and explosions of half-suppressed emotion… It’s a mighty achievement. As the night rolls on, fragments of real life spill in front of us like splinters of light from the glitterball.’
Greg Stewart’s TheatreWeekly review was also happy with the larger scale: ‘it loses none of its raw intimacy or emotional punch in the process. This is a production that crackles with authenticity, humour, and heartbreak; a richly textured portrait of a working-class family on the edge of transformation.’ Greg has been impressed by a lot of shows this year, so his is a significant recommendation: ‘If you see one show this summer, make it this.’
4 stars ★★★★
The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish disagreed with the 5 star reviewers on the matter of scaling up: ‘Bijan Sheibani’s production was seen to its best advantage in-the-round at the National’s Dorfman last year; its intimacy made everyone feel part of the emotionally volatile occasion’. Despite awarding one star less than previously, he acknowledged: ‘it remains a manifestly riveting evening, a testament to the actors’ ability to invest larger-than-life ebullience with truthfulness, and to the subject matter’s rare immediacy.’
Julia Rank for LondonTheatre described it as ‘a tangy, multi-layered soap opera presented in a terrifically theatrical production by Bijan Sheibani that’s staged in the round (designed by Samal Blak) with a disco ball at the centre. Whether the characters are throwing shapes on the dance floor, creating a human solar system or having a blazing row, the tone is always matched by Paule Constable’s superb lighting.’ She summed up: ‘It’s a play about three sisters at the end of their tethers, but Chekhov would never be so salty in his language, nor would he throw a pair of Spanx into the audience like a bouquet. A wild, messy and beautiful piece of theatre.’
The Standard’s Nick Curtis also highlighted the connection to the great Russian playwright: ‘It’s no accident that this is a play about three sisters. Steel imbues her story with a Chekhovian sense of loss and yearning, its characters suspended as the world moves on without them. It has a cosmic perspective on the passing of time but is intensely focused on the personal, bringing the politics of globalization to a local level.’ It is, he said, ‘demotically witty and profoundly affecting’.
Isobel Lewis, writing for Time Out said: ‘Director Bijan Sheibani sucks you right into this world through fast-paced dialogue and artfully constructed tableaus. It is heady, hilarious and emotional; the wedding itself might be a car crash, but this imaginative production is anything but.’
Dave Fargnoli for The Stage liked many aspects of the evening: ‘Steel’s script is sharply observed and often very funny, enlivened by spikily natural dialogue…Dorothy Atkinson particularly stands out as Sylvia’s aunt Carol, flawlessly delivering each of her many one-liners to elicit peals of laughter or gasps of shock from the audience.’
Calling it a ‘sharply comic and deeply touching family drama’, Aliya Al-Hassan for BroadwayWorld continued: ‘Messy and melancholy, ‘Till The Stars Come Down is a beautiful and important piece of theatre.’
Chris Omaweng at LondonTheatre1 had some minor reservations: ‘some of the scene changes rattle on a bit too long, and the dramatic tension dissipates during the waiting. All things considered, however, it’s a wedding like no other, for better or for worse, and definitely worth attending.’
Critics’ average rating 4.2★
Value Rating 50
Till The Stars Come Down can be seen at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 27 September 2025. Buy tickets direct from tillthestarscomedown.com
If you’ve seen Till The Stars Come Down at the Dorfman or the Theatre Royal Haymarket, please leave your rating and review at the bottom of this roundup
2024 reviews of Dorfman premiere
5 stars ★★★★★
The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish was pleased to ‘get that rare thing, a family drama about the white working-class today, with ramifications for us all, taking in the impact of immigration, financial insecurity, and uncertainty, plus love, death and the whole complex kaboodle of getting through life. It’s often deliriously funny, but also has a stabbing sense of insoluble pain.’
The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar loved the way ‘the wedding party whirls into melodrama of a high order – rollicking, complex and bearing the tragic inevitability of Greek drama.’
LondonTheatre‘s Marianka Swain called it ‘properly funny, fiercely loving and piercingly perceptive …It’s a state-of-the-nation drama told through the prism of one family, and a generational tale boiled down to one day; brilliantly specific in its references, yet universal in its hilarious, heart-stopping storytelling.’
Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage said a ‘sense of vitality fills the entire play and the richness of every character … gives a superb ensemble cast roles to play with their entire heart and soul. Their warmth, their subtlety and their ability to portray a family in love and at war make this rewarding, utterly unmissable play a theatrical event to remember. It’s sensational.’
4 stars ★★★★
The Times‘ Clive Davis was delighted that ‘Beth Steel’s debut for the National…plunges us into the middle of a clan whose passions, jokes and prejudices are utterly authentic.’
The Standard‘s Nick Curtis pointed out: ‘It’s no accident that the play centres on three sisters; Steel creates a Chekhovian blend of comedy and tragedy, amped up by booze and ribald East Midlands bluntness. One of these women married a man because he looked at her “like a potato in a famine”.’
The Observer‘s Susannah Clapp described how ‘Sheibani’s production brims with vivacity. How wonderfully the stage heaps up with stuff – from hairdryers to cheese hedgehogs – and is gradually drained. How spot-on are Samal Blak’s costumes: the tight scarlet satin frock, the wedding dress that gapes. How marvellously a first-rate cast pull together as their characters pull apart. And just look at Lorraine Ashbourne and Lisa McGrillis suddenly recognising in each other, though decades apart, the same lost loves and lives. Those of a struggling post-industrial Britain.’
Fiona Mountford at the i-paper found ‘Bijan Sheibani’s lively, loving, in-the-round production revels in the earthy humour of Steel’s script, which instantly convinces in its depiction of family dynamics.’
‘I loved its sweaty honesty, its big, generous canvas, its energy and its deep sympathy for its characters. Steel resists easy answers too,’ said Sarah Hemming in The Financial Times. ‘the muscular immediacy of Steel’s dialogue is undeniable, with laugh-out-loud lines flung about like confetti while hearts quietly break. It’s a gloriously messy affair, compassionate, hilarious, and tangy with fear and longing,’ said Sam Marlowe in The Stage.
The Independent‘s Alice Saville began: ‘A pair of elasticated Spanx pings into a near-hysterical audience in the first act of Beth Steel’s zingy comedy, set at a small town Northern wedding where all decorum breaks down. It’s typical of the cheeky spirit of this crowd-pleasing play – but peel off the layers and there’s tragedy underneath.’
Time Out‘s Andrjez Lukowski was critical of the way the Polish groom was portrayed, saying, ‘As much as anything else it’s just frustrating to have this sloppiness in an otherwise meticulous play. ‘Till the Stars Come Down’ is a funny, heartbreaking piece of writing, wonderfully acted, tenderly directed… except when it isn’t.’
Critics’ Average Rating 4.7★
Read Paul Seven Lewis’s review of Till The stars Come Down at the Dorfman here
If you’ve seen Till The Stars Come Down, please write a review and give your rating below