Which critics fancied a threesome?

Garrick Theatre

A threesome featuring Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan and Erin Doherty sounds like somebody’s sexual fantasy. In fact, some theatre critics decided the plot of Unicorn was a fantasy.  They found it funny and well acted but they didn’t believe Mike Bartlett’s story. Others were impressed by the idea of a middle-aged couple considering linking up with a young woman to spice up their sex life, then finding it leads to something more profound, driven by the needs of the ‘unicorn’.

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

LondonTheatre‘s Marianka Swain (4★) appreciated the quality of the play, calling it ‘gloriously funny and deeply empathetic’. She also extolled the virtues of the actors: ‘Walker is a fierce joy as Polly, barrelling through roller-coaster monologues in which she talks herself in and out of her desires. Mangan is unsurpassable at that very British self-deprecating discomfort: witness his horror when, trying to sound hip, he praises Kate’s “clobber”. Erin Doherty lends Kate an effective cool self-assurance, although all three later exhibit raw vulnerability.’

Praising it for its ‘sophistication, wit and insight’, The Telegraph‘s Dominic Cavendish (4★) said ‘this menage a trois is steeped in an acid understanding of ageing and mortality.’ He declared the cast to be ‘a dream team – every shifty look, pause and understated gesture hits home.’

Susannah  Clapp of The Observer (4★) noted, ‘I have rarely seen actors change from within so subtly and definitively. Doherty becomes harder though still hopeful; Walker stops whirring and settles into stillness; Mangan stops lounging and consolidates. Together they humanise what at first appears as a mechanical arrangement’. Greg Stewart for Theatre Weekly (4★) thought it was ‘a modern play that’s deeply thought provoking and surprisingly funny.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis (4★) went deep:  ‘On the surface Unicorn…is a snappy comedy full of quotable lines, exploring the awkwardness of challenging norms and admitting one’s own desires. On a deeper level it asks – still hilariously, thank goodness – how we should find meaning and joy in the face of a world going to ruin, and the inevitability of death.’ He wasn’t satisfied with the ending: ‘Though the play has flaws, and falls apart completely at the end, it’s never less than a rollicking, stimulating ride. If you’ll pardon the expression.’

CityAM’s Adam Bloodworth (4) loved it: ‘it features some of the sharpest writing on in the West End right now, if not ever’. He also praised it for being ‘“fuss free”: a triplet of good actors playing interesting people delivering interesting lines’.

Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (3★) said, ‘It’s never dull and often devastating, but somehow it fails to land with the weight for which it is striving.’ It is ‘often very, very funny,’ she went on, ‘Bartlett’s writing hits its targets with unerring precision, but in the second half, as the action darkens and develops in unexpected ways, his themes seem more diffuse.’ For her, Erin Doherty gave ‘a lovely, subtle, darting performance.’ Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowksi (3★) was lukewarm about it: ‘It’s pretty MOR! But there’s enough of a twinkle in its eye that it never feels entirely conventional.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (2★) found ‘their relationships are peculiarly devoid of passion, too declarative of their desires. However intimate the conversation becomes, the chemistry in this throuple never quite ignites.’

Clive Davis at The Times (2★) found ‘The first half offers some provocative questions about the unsettling power of desire, but an overlong series of conversational tableaux loses its grip well before the end.’

Aliya Al-Hassan for BroadwayWorld (2★) felt ‘What is missing from the production is some real passion and a tangible build in the sexual tension between all characters.’ Although ‘The first half is sparky, often clever and has some genuinely funny moments’, she found ‘the play really stutters in the second half. The realities of being in a throuple are never explored, beyond an incredibly idealistic portrayal.’

Sam Marlowe in The Stage (2★) wrote, ‘In a polished production by James Macdonald, it’s coolly intelligent and smartly acted by Erin Doherty, Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan. But for a drama that is concerned with desire, it’s verbose and oddly passionless, and its circuitous musings verge on frustrating.’

Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times (2★) summed up the antis, calling it a ‘talk-heavy, action-light, unconvincing and overlong quasi-comedy.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.1

Value rating 35 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price)

Unicorn can be seen at the Garrick Theatre until 26 April 2025. Click here to buy direct from the  theatre

Read Paul Seven’s 4 star review here or watch it on the YouTube channel Theatre Reviews With Paul Seven

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