REVIEW: Once, Phoenix Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
This version of Once aches with a rawness, a shuddering and tremulous intensity that is almost unbearable to endure, so true, brave and intense are the performances from the entire ensemble.
This version of Once aches with a rawness, a shuddering and tremulous intensity that is almost unbearable to endure, so true, brave and intense are the performances from the entire ensemble.
The Audience, written by Peter Morgan, starring Helen Mirren and directed by Stephen Daldry, is one of those rare theatrical experiences which embraces and delivers all of the possibilities in a rich, perfectly-pitched and played meditation on the UK Monarchy, the office of Prime Minister and the state of the evolving UK society…If all West End productions were this good, London would expire from sheer pleasure.
Neil Armfield’s glorious revival of David Hare’s masterpiece about the torments, triumphs and tragedy of Oscar Wilde’s last years, The Judas Kiss, is spellbinding theatre and, but for one glaring inadequacy, would be hard to beat as revival of the year.
This is the sort of play the Donmar is famous for. An instant classic.