Theatre and summer opera: the reopening continues
What are the critics saying about After Life, The Girl Next Door and Garsington Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier?

“Hallelujah!” said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Their full reopening may have had to be delayed, but many of the nation’s theatres are now emerging from the pandemic – and among them is the National Theatre itself, which lost a third of its workforce to the financial storms of Covid. It’s wonderful just to be back in the NT building; to also be “transported” by its first post-pandemic offering, After Life (at the Dorfman until 7 August), is a “boundless joy”.
Adapted by Jack Thorne from the Japanese film of the same name, the piece is set in an “ethereal processing centre” where the newly deceased must select a single memory to take with them to the afterlife. It’s an “odd” play, said Sarah Crompton on What’s On Stage – and yet “overwhelmingly moving”, and “profoundly satisfying in the subtle ways it deals with grief, doubt and death”. It is the “perfect way to deal with some of the emotions” aroused by the pandemic.
The Girl Next Door (at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, until 3 July) is the latest play from the “staggeringly prolific” Alan Ayckbourn – and it is “inventive, empathetic, timely and fun”, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. Set during the pandemic, it is Ayckbourn’s 85th play – and it provides rousing evidence that the 82-year-old’s powers are “undimmed”, said Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
His clever and playful script is about a 60-year-old TV actor named Rob whose lockdown boredom is eased when he spies a woman dressed in 1940s clothing, hanging out washing in his neighbours’ garden. What unfolds is a “delightful mix of past and present”: a “brilliantly constructed” exploration of wartime sacrifice in which “inconsequential details” become “later revelations”, and featuring a twist that “transforms the tale into an uncanny ghost story”.
Thank heavens, too, for the return of that delicious summer treat, country house opera, said Hugh Canning in The Sunday Times. The season has got off to a flying start with Garsington Opera’s outstanding new production of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (until 3 July). Director Bruno Ravella finds the perfect balance between novelty and tradition with an updating that “never undermines the emotional landscape of Strauss’s nostalgic score”.
The Swedish soprano Miah Persson is sensational as the Marschallin. And Gary McCann’s lavish design is masterly. Indeed, “I’ll stick my neck out: no UK production of the past 50 years, even Visconti’s at Covent Garden, has a comparable wow factor”. If I were in charge of the Royal Opera House, I would “snap up” this production and bring it to London “prontissimo”. This “sumptuous” staging simply must be revived.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Will divisions over trans issue derail Keir Starmer's government?
Today's Big Question Rebellion is brewing following the Supreme Court's ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK
-
Why UK scientists are trying to dim the Sun
In The Spotlight The UK has funded controversial geoengineering techniques that could prove helpful in slowing climate change
By Abby Wilson
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Film reviews: Sinners and The King of Kings
Feature Vampires lay siege to a Mississippi juke joint and an animated retelling of Jesus' life
By The Week US
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
By The Week US
-
Book reviews: 'The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World's Most Coveted Microchip' and 'Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service'
Feature The tech titan behind Nvidia's success and the secret stories of government workers
By The Week US
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK
-
One-pan black chickpeas with baharat and orange recipe
The Week Recommends This one-pan dish offers bold flavours, low effort and minimum clean up
By The Week UK
-
G20: Viola Davis stars in 'ludicrous' but fun action thriller
The Week Recommends The award-winning actress plays the 'swashbuckling American president' in this newly released Prime Video film
By The Week UK