Eureka Day at the Old Vic: a ‘sharp’ and ‘fiercely accurate’ comedy
Jonathan Spector’s 2018 play focuses on a group of progressive parents and stars Helen Hunt

Written in 2018, Jonathan Spector’s play is set in the familiar territory of the culture wars, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. In a primary school in California, a group of progressive parents have gathered to discuss an outbreak of mumps – driving the plot towards a clash over the MMR jab.
The committee is led by Don (Mark McKinney), an “irritant” who is less a “virtue signaller than a human semaphore”, but the real power in the group resides with Suzanne (the US screen star Helen Hunt), who “talks fuzzily about community and consensus” while actually being deeply controlling – and who ends up at loggerheads with Carina (Susan Kelechi Watson), the first black woman on the committee.
The evening starts with a volley of well-polished satirical potshots aimed at the liberal Left, via these rather “flatly drawn” entitled parents, but this onslaught then gives way to “earnest debates on social justice, vaccination and the pull of conspiracy theory”.
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.
This is a “sharp comedy” – and a “bracing corrective to the idea that you can only discuss serious issues with a straight face”, said Sarah Crompton on What’s on Stage. The satire is “broad but perfectly calibrated; the writing fiercely accurate”.
One central scene is particularly well staged by director Katy Rudd. To defuse the brewing crisis, the board members decide to conduct a “Community Activated Conversation” over Zoom, while comments from (unseen) parents unfurl on the set above their heads. Inevitably, it collapses into a melee – with profanities and accusations of fascism – and in the theatre, the audience is reduced to “helpless laughter”.
The show is a palpable hit, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph – and the Old Vic’s decision to stage it is a welcome sign that British theatre is “awake to the ludicrous – and also pernicious – side of woke”. Yet the dramatic stakes for those involved are insufficient to deliver the necessary heft.
It’s a funny and perceptive play, but not a “daring” one, agreed Andrzej Lukowski on Time Out. It’s “enjoyable”, but “slightly frustrating”.
The Old Vic, London SE1. Until 31 October
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
-
When did computer passwords become a thing?
The Explainer People have been racking their brains for good codes for longer than you might think
-
What to know before 'buying the dip'
the explainer Purchasing a stock once it has fallen in value can pay off — or cost you big
-
Fast and furious zombies, serial killer sharks and a matchmaking conundrum in June movies
the week recommends Danny Boyle is back with '28 Years Later' and Dakota Johnson has a Sophie's choice to make in 'Materialists'
-
Ancient India: living traditions – 'ethereal and sensual' exhibition
The Week Recommends Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are explored in show that remains 'remarkably compact'
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Film reviews: Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, and Final Destination: Bloodlines
Feature Tom Cruise risks life and limb to entertain us, a young girl befriends a destructive alien, and death stalks a family that resets fate's toll.