This one felt like a hot ticket when we booked it months before and also seemed well suited to my mind set just 48 hours after my Gresham Lecture on Commercial Ethics.
But this play was about the arguably thornier topic of political ethics and political pragmatism.
What a posse of cast and creatives for this one – click here for the Official London Theatre information stub.
I recall being most impressed by the performances and the production. Also, the play did its job of getting me and Janie talking about its big issues for the rest of the weekend. Yet this didn’t feel like premier league David Hare to me; I felt there was something lacking in the play.
- Michael Billington in the Guardian heaped it with praise – here;
- Kate Bassett in the Independent puts her finger on the flaws in the nevertheless fascinating play – click here;
- The Standard was not impressed by the play – click here;
- Sarah Hemming in the FT clearly liked it a lot, comparing it favourably with The Vertical Hour as drama (whereas I would say that The Vertical Hour worked better for me as drama) – click here to read what she wrote;
- to save us all time, Mark Espiner in the Guardian pulled out the best quotes from all the reviews, so that people who hadn’t seen the production could pick, mix and wax lyrical about it – click here.
It was that sort of play/production – influential people were supposed to talk about it but not all that many people got to see it. Janie and I saw a preview, so had every right to wax lyrical from an informed perspective and from the outset.
What good news for everyone that Janie and I tend to keep our counsel to ourselves on such matters.
Well worth seeing.