The Southbury Child (London) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (34)
See it if you like a clever, play about social issues in a small town
Don't see it if you don't like plays
See it if You enjoy a good comedy. Alex Jennings delivers as promised.
Don't see it if You don't like comedies or religion.
See it if The cast is amazing. For some deep topics, there are some funny lines.
Don't see it if You’re stuffy.
See it if you like beautifully written smart plays with rich, complicated characters dealing with questions of faith, conviction, conscience and loss
Don't see it if you're looking for a comedy or lighter fare. This play is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny at times, but is also heartbreaking and unsettling. Read more
See it if Some great acting, and I really enjoyed the play and the themes.
Don't see it if You are expecting comedy with lots of laughs. There is humour but much more subtle
See it if You like a well acted and written play, dark, at times funny,
Don't see it if You want a logical plot (balloons perleaaaaze!) a laugh a minute and something up to date
See it if you are willing to sit through a poorly written text with a stupid premise to see top-notch acting.
Don't see it if having a nonsensical plot will put you off and/or you are not ok watching a play about a child's death and funeral. Read more
See it if This isn’t a terrible play — but it’s not a good one either. The plot is weak and there are a couple of gimmicky plot devices used.
Don't see it if The play is forgettable and there is nothing at stake dramatically - it’s a lot of drama over nothing — over ballons! Read more
Critic Reviews (7)
"A flurry of melodramatic contrivances in the second act sit curiously with the overall sourly comic, social realist tone, and it’s only really in the final, wrenching scene that we’re fully emotionally engaged, the raw grief of Twomey’s Tina over her child’s coffin a devastating gut punch. That confrontation with mortality, is of course, partly what Beresford is getting at: but it’s a sip of real potency in a play that slips down a little too easily."
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"This play contains fascinating, and unresolved questions about the role of a church in a community whose inhabitants only darken its doors for christenings, weddings, and funerals."
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"Several big themes are covered, from gay marriage to adoption and alcoholism. At times it can feel like it’s trying to cram too many into one play. But there are some fabulously funny lines, and the characters largely ring true, thanks in no small measure to some towering performances."
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"It’s rare to see a play genuinely surprise the audience as this one does, but the payoff for that excitement was slight dissatisfaction, I was left hanging on for a catharsis that never came. Ultimately it feels more like a comedy documentary than a revelatory drama, but go and see it. Beresford has created a bold new play about an ancient subject – which is guaranteed to launch a thousand arguments in the bar afterwards."
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"Coming after Covid, it’s hugely, tear-stirringly cathartic. Beresford won a Bafta for the screenplay of Pride. He can pride himself on this. My play of the year so far."
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"Jennings and director Nicholas Hytner allow us to glimpse the turmoil churning inside a man torn between caring for his parishioners and standing by his principles."
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"Beresford has captured a moment of change in our time and Jennings has brought it to life with extraordinary candour and sensitivity. It's a cracking state of the nation piece and a beautiful personal tour de force for Jennings."
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