Paradise London Reviews and Tickets

65%

(1 Rating)

Positive

Mixed

100%

Negative

Members say

Confusing, Modern, Self-indulgent, Brisk

About the Show

An all-female cast bring Greek legend to life as revenge and escape vie for an outcast's attention.

Winner of the Ted Hughes Award and two-time Mercury Prize nominee Kae Tempest turns her attention to Greek legend. In "Paradise", war hero Philoctetes sees his glory days well and truly behind him. Cast out to a remote island, he sees the arrival of a soldier for its potential opportunities, but the arrival of a second newcomer turns his attention to revenge. Directed by Ian Rickson ("Translations") and designed by Rae Smith ("War Horse"). Lesley Sharp (ITV's "Scott and Bailey") stars.

Show-Score Member Reviews (1)

Self-indulgent, Confusing, Brisk, Modern

See it if you enjoy modernised retelling of Greek myths.

Don't see it if you like cohesive plays that flow and make sense, as this one has too many random bits thrown into it. Read more

Critic Reviews (3)

But I couldn’t find much of an emotional way into Ian Rickson’s production via its leads – thank the (Olympian) gods for the chorus then...Tempest and Rickson’s oft-whimsical reimagining of it tends to add to the strangeness rather than subtract from it.
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But it all feels too much, too big and too messy, with frustrating longueurs. Like the figure at its heart, Paradise is fatally flawed, but heroic none the less.
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Lesley Sharp gives a towering performance as the abandoned war veteran at the heart of Kae Tempest's stirring reimagining of Sophocles' Philoctetes.
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Trailer

Creative team

Royal National Theatre

Claire-Louise Cordwell

Magdalena