Manville gives as strong a performance as the two-dimensional writing allows. The staging has panache. But for all its opulence, this self-indulgent show lacks heart and, at four hours, is far, far too long.'
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A vaudevillian nightmare with an unforgivable running time...Lesley Manville is magnificent as a billionaire seeking revenge, but this cartoonish play misses the mark.'
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Star turn bolsters baggy rewrite...Lesley Manville rises above the prevailing muddle...at its core, the play seems mostly to be running in place.'
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Kushner’s language is wonderful. You won’t be bored. But his Kushner-isms ultimately get in the way of this play being as good as it could be...singular but rambling take on a European classic.'
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Lesley Manville confirms she's one of the all-time greats...The only drawback is how drawn-out Jeremy Herrin’s beautiful to behold production (with live jazz) is: over three and a half hours, with two intervals.'
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[Lesley Manville's] performance...is quite simply spellbinding... But there's an awful lot of everything and when Manville is not centre stage, the action feels curiously airless.'
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While its length is a problem, its high points are riveting, Herrin’s production is cool and stylish, and it’s worth the surfeit to see Manville at her resplendent best.'
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Tony Kushner's plodding revenge epic falls flat...Lesley Manville excels as the billionaire returning to her small town but even she can’t save this bloated adaptation.'
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