Here's a confession, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. I've never read "The Forsyte Saga", John Galsworthy's early 20th century novels chronicling the trials and misadventures of a wealthy English family between 1886 and 1920. Nor have I seen either of the two long, luxurious TV adaptations.
Those better acquainted may find cherished bits of the saga are missing from this superb condensed version, which is adapted by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan, and presented in two parts (five-hours long in total) by the Troupe Theatre Company at the Park Theatre in north London. But as theatre it's "faultless": a "must-see" production that's "sumptuous, panoramic, intense, amusing; vividly of its time yet arrestingly modern in its understanding of the games we play".
I went in anticipating a stately production, full of "fabric and furrowed brows", said Susannah Clapp in The Observer. But this terrific new version is quite "disruptive". Here, a story "so stuffed with stuff is set on an almost bare stage". Lighting, music and sound all conjure up leaps of place and era. Anna Yates's costumes "wire the action into character and epoch". And, somehow, nothing feels rushed. "The atmosphere is charged but nothing is skimped", and "the two-part play unrolls, ample and spacious".
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The adaptation foregrounds two female characters, Irene and Fleur, whose fortunes are linked by one terrible incident, said Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times. The whole thing is directed "with immense skill and fluidity" by Josh Roche, and becomes a "joyous exercise in shared dramatic storytelling".
The tireless cast of nine are "pitch-perfect", said Sarah Crompton on What's On Stage. As Irene, unhappily married to paterfamilias Soames, Fiona Hampton is "still and dignified, yet suggesting constant ferment beneath the surface". Flora Spencer-Longhurst is "sophisticated, sharp and selfish" as Fleur, the evening's unreliable narrator.
As Soames, who balances "loathsome acts with tenderness and fragility", Joseph Millson is "riveting", said Dave Fargnoli in The Stage. It's a great performance at the heart of a "gripping" evening.
Park Theatre, London N4. Until 7 December
