The Ferryman (London)
Closed 3h 0m
The Ferryman (London)
78

The Ferryman (London) London Reviews and Tickets

78%
(8 Ratings)
Positive
75%
Mixed
13%
Negative
12%
Members say
Great acting, Absorbing, Entertaining, Ambitious, Must see

About the Show

Olivier award-winner, Sam Mendes directs this emotional family drama set during the Troubles. 

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Show-Score Member Reviews (8)

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117 Reviews | 11 Followers
95
Absorbing, Great acting, Intelligent, Riveting

See it if You are interested in a play about an Irish family, the IRA, and familial relationships. This is a masterful production and not to be missed

Don't see it if You are challenged by Irish dialect and don't mind missing talented writing and talented acting

69 Reviews | 11 Followers
88
Absorbing, Great acting, Intense

See it if You enjoy seeing an epic entertaining story supported by great acting. This story accomplishes that from start to finish.

Don't see it if You are bothered by anything related to the Northern Ireland religious and political strife of 1960s - 80s. Read more

26 Reviews | 0 Followers
82
Riveting, Great writing, Great acting, Entertaining, Absorbing

See it if you like long, character-rich drama.

Don't see it if you're not into serious theatre; you want an uplifting yarn.

15 Reviews | 1 Follower
100
Great acting, Gripping, Intelligent, Masterful, Must see

See it if you enjoy British dramas with constant emotional highs and lows for three captivating hours.

Don't see it if you need an uplifting, positive show or want to walk out of the theater singing.

15 Reviews | 0 Followers
65
Great writing, Intense, Entertaining, Thought-provoking, Great acting

See it if You like dramas set in history.

Don't see it if You can’t sit still for a long time or are confused easily. Having some historic knowledge helps with this one.

6 Reviews | 0 Followers
95
Ambitious, Exquisite, Epic, Masterful, Must see

See it if Not to be missed, an epic tale, brilliant and beautiful, hilarious and moving. Just stupendous

Don't see it if If you can't spend a long night in the theater. Worth every minute.

6 Reviews | 0 Followers
1
Racist, Dated, Cliched, Ambitious

See it if You're not Irish, a little bit racist and like paddywhackery

Don't see it if You're Irish, capable of judging a play on its merits rather than insisting everything Jezz must be gold

1 Review | 0 Followers
95
Enchanting, Great acting, Delightful, Entertaining, Clever

See it if A brilliant and unexpected intimate staging that feels personal.

Don't see it if You dislike classic scores.

Critic Reviews (21)

Time Out London
January 11th, 2018

"This enormous, shattering eruption of a play...Vast, a play that's formally conventional but has an ambition that's out of this world...It succeeds. But despite the teeming cast and interwoven plot lines it remains intimate...Even though lengthy stretches are nothing more than generations bickering at the breakfast table, nothing feels wasted, every strand is respected, Mendes choreographs everything to perfection...Left me genuinely stunned."
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The London Evening Standard
September 17th, 2018

"A triumphant show that fully justifies the hype...Mendes’s richly textured production his farmhouse kitchen is a place teeming with vitality...There are some similarities here to Butterworth’s last smash hit, 'Jerusalem,' not least a sense of the mystique of rural life. Yet 'The Ferryman' has its own distinct tang of humour and menace. A feast of intricate storytelling, it’s absorbing, soulful and ultimately shattering."
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S
July 30th, 2017

“Mendes’ direction of the enormous cast is exquisite. The pacing of the action, the timing of the speeches, the nuanced acting he inspires are impeccable. The entire cast functions as a single organism, all members working toward the single goal of opening our minds to a mystery involving the irony of the illusion of freedom and the invisible bonds of fate...Essential viewing not just for its immaculate direction and performances but for the high relevance of its content.”
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The New York Times
May 4th, 2017
For a previous production

"A classic, bustling domestic comedy in which an extended family lives in contented close quarters and everybody chips in to help. Of course, in this clan, even the little ones swear like sailors on a bender...Butterworth specializes in making what might be too much from anybody else feel somehow exactly right. Life as he portrays it is so expansive, only myth and melodrama can accommodate its dimensions."
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Variety
May 4th, 2017
For a previous production

"A ripping thriller in a big family home, stuffed with eccentricity and black comedy, it swells into an expansive examination of Republican history, politics and identity, as tied up with the IRA...It’s a tumbling and tumultuous play, one that swerves off into storytelling, song and dance, and debate, without taking its eye off the need for suspense. It’s a thriller that bursts the bounds of its genre, but never forgets what makes the form tick...The tension is as electric as it is symbolic."
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The Hollywood Reporter
May 4th, 2017
For a previous production

“Those lucky enough to score tickets are unlikely to be disappointed, as this is a consistently absorbing, emotionally rich and beautifully executed work of theater. For some, however, the only mild reservation might be that it's clearly a work that already has crowned itself Serious Theater about Big Themes, pandering to expectations with show-stopping monologues, adorably potty-mouthed pre-pubescent kids and cuddly live animals onstage."
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Exeunt Magazine
May 4th, 2017
For a previous production

“There is something about Jez Butterworth’s great hunking slab of meat of a new play – all juicy and succulent and dripping in blood – that compels one to make human contact...Bang-out brilliant show – directed with verve and control by Sam Mendes...At its heart, ‘The Ferryman’ is an impassioned search for a true and lasting definition of ‘family’. Butterworth tests and tweaks this definition at every turn.”
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The Telegraph (UK)
May 4th, 2017
For a previous production

"Butterworth has done it again, this time with another rural drama of mighty magnitude set across a single, darkening day...This is a three-hour feast populated with an even more ambitious 22 characters...There is a new warmth about Butterworth’s writing – which eschews the self-aware dialogue of yore and taps his own Irish-Catholic provenance for a vitality that memorably manifests itself in wild Dionysiac outbreaks of dancing...Miss this and you’ve missed a marvel."
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