Manhunt: a 'shattering' study of the life and death of Raoul Moat

Fresh from his haul of Critics' Circle and Olivier Awards for his modern-day reimagining of "Oedipus", Robert Icke has turned his hand to the "sobering" story of Raoul Moat, said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph.

Over an absorbing 90 minutes, the writer-director reflects on the events that led to the UK's biggest manhunt, when Moat went on the run in 2010 following a "violent rampage" during which he shot his ex-girlfriend, murdered her new partner and blinded a police officer. The Newcastle bouncer hid out for a week in north-east England with a sawn-off shotgun before finally ending his life.

Without trying to "excuse or explain" Moat's actions, Icke "pushes back" on then-prime minister David Cameron's "simplistic" statement that "Raoul Moat was a callous murderer. Full stop", said Dave Fargnoli in The Stage. Instead, he uses Moat's harrowing tale to explore "potent questions about toxic masculinity".

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It's a "shattering and strikingly humane" play, propelled by Samuel Edward-Cook, who is "mesmerising" as Moat. He puts on a "profoundly physical" performance, one minute storming around the stage in a "whirl of eruptive anger", the next curling up in a ball of "crumpled defeat".

The most "visceral" sequence takes place during an "achingly long stretch of absolute blackout", as the police officer who was shot and blinded by Moat reflects on his experience in "calm, factual detail". In the wrong hands this could have felt "gimmicky", but Icke uses the technique to "drive home" the violence of the attack with "extraordinary, adrenaline-spiking force".

To my surprise, I found the imagined conversation between Paul Gascoigne (Trevor Fox) and Moat the most "moving", said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. In reality an "intoxicated Gazza" bizarrely turned up at the crime scene to offer his services as an "ad hoc negotiator" and was promptly turned away by police. But Icke's fantasised "dialogue of beautiful, sorrowful honesty between two broken men" filled with "bottomless rage and self-loathing" gives the audience much to contemplate.

Despite the "theatrical flourishes", Icke's latest production felt "strangely plodding", said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. The characters surrounding Edward-Cook are "brief and unrounded", and though the theme of toxic masculinity is "immensely timely", "Manhunt" falls short of delivering its "dramatic power or its psychological insights".

Icke's latest offering isn't in the same league as "Oedipus" and more could have been made of the "national hysteria" surrounding the manhunt, added Cavendish in The Telegraph. But it's an unflinching study of Moat's life that "amply justifies main-stage attention" and makes for a "gripping" watch.