“Blissfully funny and ineffably touching”, Stephen Beresford’s new play about an Anglican vicar wrangling with his “mutinous” flock would have “worked wonders” with audiences had it reached the stage when it was supposed to, in 2020. Now, after two years of “biblical upset”, it feels almost “heaven-sent”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph.
Alex Jennings plays David, a vicar in Dartmouth who has dug in his heels over a request from a grieving family to decorate his church with Disney balloons for their little girl’s funeral. His apparently “snobby callousness” enrages locals, leading to a stand-off “so tightly enwoven with competing principles and conflicting emotions”, it creates “an almost Ibsenite intensity”.
Yet the play’s wry tone, and its “dexterous” mix of light and dark, “puts you more immediately in mind of Alan Bennett”. It’s beautifully acted and profound, and has a “tear-stirringly cathartic” ending: it’s “my play of the year so far”.
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.
The piece is deftly directed by Nicholas Hytner, and three-time Olivier winner Jennings is “majestic” as David, who turns out to be a more complex and flawed figure than he first appears, said Clive Davis in The Times. Indeed, there are first-rate performances from the entire cast, including Phoebe Nicholls as David’s disenchanted yet dogged wife, and Sarah Twomey as the bereaved mum.
At times, the writing becomes too “cluttered”, as if you are “watching a soap opera at warp speed”. But the whole adds up to a “rare and heartfelt” portrait of post-Christian Britain; it is one of those plays that “keeps you talking well into the night”.
Alas, the piece has a fatal flaw: the central dilemma just isn’t entirely credible, said Ryan Gilbey in The Guardian. Jennings is “delightfully witty and urbane” as David, and you just can’t quite believe that this equable man would be so intransigent in the face of devastating grief.
Agreed, said Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail. This is a good play, but with “fewer gags” and tighter plotting, it could have been even better.
Bridge Theatre, London SE1. Until 27 August
-
October 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being releasedThe Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
The delightful, smutty world of Jilly CooperIn the Spotlight Millions mourn the ‘Mrs Kipling of sex’
-
Lee Miller at the Tate: a ‘sexy yet devastating’ showThe Week Recommends The ‘revelatory’ exhibition tells the photographer’s story ‘through her own impeccable eye’
-
6 eye-catching rounded homesFeature Featuring a central spiral staircase in Michigan and a Balinese-style estate with ocean views in Hawaii
-
A House of Dynamite: a ‘nail-biting’ nuclear-strike thrillerThe Week Recommends ‘Virtuoso talent’ Kathryn Bigelow directs a ‘fast-paced’ and ‘tense’ ‘symphony of dread’
-
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: a ‘haunting’ history of modern AfghanistanThe Week Recommends Lyse Doucet’s sensitively written work traces over 50 years of Kabul’s ‘Inter-Con’ hotel
-
The Smashing Machine: Dwayne Johnson is ‘magnetic’ in gritty biopicThe Week Recommends The wrestler-turned-Hollywood-actor takes on the role of troubled UFC champion Mark Kerr
-
Shadow Ticket: Thomas Pynchon’s first novel in over a decadeThe Week Recommends Zany whodunnit about a private eye in 1930s Milwaukee could be the 88-year-old author’s ‘last hurrah’
-
Southern barbecue: This year’s top threeFeature A weekend-only restaurant, a 90-year-old pitmaster, and more
