“...it swings the pendulum wildly in the other direction — yielding interesting results, but trampling over much of the play’s pleasures in the process.”
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“This show was clearly planned as a crowd-pleaser, a reappraisal of a classic and a star vehicle, but it doesn’t fully satisfy on any of those counts.”
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"Longhurst’s production isn’t revisionist. But it strips away the protective barrier of everything being one big joke; it injects naturalism to this most stylised of comedies, and in doing so makes it much bleaker."
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“Stephen Mangan and Rachael Stirling lead a revival that features not the usual harmless lovers' ding-dong but distressing domestic violence.”
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“It is drama of such knife-edge ferocity that it’s impossible to turn away. You want to cry, even as you are laughing.”
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"Some will complain (and have) that the result negates the comedy coursing through this time-honored text; I would argue that the laughs are still there, tempered in this instance by an awareness of the lacerations oftentimes inflicted by love."
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“It doesn’t offer the smooth entertainment many Coward fans will crave, but it’s the snags in the silk that give this production its texture. This is comedy that shows its sharp teeth every time it smiles.”
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“From the exquisite staging, flawless direction, and truly immeasurable cast, there is nothing flippant about this sensational production which easily manages to be more successful than any of the marriages in the show.”
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