Travesties

for a previous production “That such momentous questions are posed in a piece that appears as light as tissue paper is just part of the whole delightful mischief of the thing…Rich literary gags, delivered with plenty of top spin by Marber’s sprightly cast…Marber also finds the shadows and depths in the piece. Hollander’s Carr begins as bumbling...But there’s also poignancy to his performance…It does what art can do: catches a certain truth about experience that might otherwise be forgotten.” Full Review

for a previous production “An effervescent delight, headlined by a performance to cherish from a never-been-better Tom Hollander. The formidably bright Stoppard can be oppressive at times...Mercifully, the exact opposite force is at work here, leaving us instead to relish Stoppard’s joyous wordplay and luxuriant reveling in language. Rarely in theatre are words wielded to such a heightened as well as consistently comic effect…This is British theatre operating at the very top of its game.” Full Review

for a previous production “With ‘Travesties,’ Stoppard has maximum fun with us, history, and theatre...It's a completely bonkers, fast-paced, non-stop, roller coaster ride. And it's very, very, very funny. It's also quite difficult to keep up with…Hollander is pitch perfect as Carr, delivering Stoppard's beautifully crafted lines so they land with maximum hilarity. But the whole cast are superb...The only slight grumble I had was that very occasionally 'Travesties' feels smug...This superb revival does the piece absol... Full Review

for a previous production “The play takes ostentatious delight in its own unabashed intellectualism, but Hollander's performance anchors its cerebral posturing in the realm of actual human experience…Will there be lines, even perhaps entire scenes that pass you by? Almost undoubtedly. Yet Marber's finely calibrated revival gives a champagne effervescence to the densely plotted exchanges…while the performances throughout are blissful.” Full Review

for a previous production “The story…is almost unfathomable. And yet you don’t need a degree in English, art, or Russian history to get you through this brilliantly frivolous production…You soon realize you’ve just got to let go. That’s exactly what the cast, led by Tom Hollander, do in Patrick Marber’s dazzling revival. Stoppard’s play is a two-and-a-half-hour virtuoso turn, and Marber’s production, which stands on the virtuoso turns of his actors, does not disappoint…This is tomfoolery with panache.” Full Review

for a previous production “The triumph of Marber’s production…is the way it honors Stoppard’s dazzling intellect while also going full throttle with the piece’s playful, sometimes bonkers, wit…The form of the play is stunningly refracted through its subjects…Marber’s energetic production, featuring superb musical skits and magic tricks is slickly delivered by a game cast…Sublime silliness with an all-too-serious core.” Full Review

for a previous production “Humongously funny...A magnetic role for Tom Hollander…The comedy is the breathtaking magic trick of a then-young playwright…The amusements come not single spies but in battalions… The production, joyously responsive to Stoppard’s theatricality, is by another playwright, Patrick Marber, who staged it…with this well-meshed cast. They’re all in total command of the scintillating text.” Full Review

for a previous production “A literary crossword puzzle that's less cryptic than outright impossible. But such is the energy of Stoppard's writing and the pace and pulse of Marber's production that the audience is carried along on their theatrical thrill-ride...Much of this is down to the twinkling, mischievous charm of Hollander's Henry Carr...Marber tempers it with just enough nonsense, and finds the funny without losing the hammer concealed at the heart of this riotous, necessary piece of cultural vandalism.” Full Review

for a previous production “The play’s humor works predominantly through old and intricate cultural references...Even when I did get them, I often didn’t find them funny…The production is funniest when Carr’s memories slip into theatrical fantasies...These are beautifully directed…A slick production...with a starry cast who take all the play’s ridiculous elements and produce something very honorable. It should be understood chiefly as an intellectualized farce and the right audience will absolutely adore it.” Full Review

for a previous production “A very funny and highly-strung production…Hollander is pompous and preening in this essential revival…But he’s also fragile and endearing, the heart and soul of this wickedly playful and cerebral show…One hand deeply absurd and silly and on the other extremely high-minded and full of ideas…This is brainy stuff, a young playwright’s cocky display of intellectual dick-swinging, but it’s also intensely entertaining and infectiously theatrical.” Full Review