SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
Death of a snake oil salesman
PETER MASON applauds a pitch-perfect production of the late Brian Friel’s compelling study of gullability and disillusion
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
MATTHEW HAWKINS pays tribute to the performance artist and costumier, Leigh Bowery
SIMON DUFF reviews a new composition by German composer and pianist Florian Weber that blurs the line between where improvisation ends and composition begins
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Faith Healer
Lyric Hammersmith, London
PATRICK MAGEE, Helen Mirren and Stephen Lewis were the heavyweight cast in the first London production of Faith Healer at the Royal Court back in 1981, but it’s difficult to believe they could have been any better than Declan Conlon, Justine Mitchell and Nick Holder in this new interpretation.
Brian Friel’s mesmerising three-handed monologue is a gift for any self-respecting set of actors, but its lyrical beauty still has to be delivered – and under the typically sure-footed direction of Rachel O’Riordan this triumvirate does that in spades.
It’s a production of such wonderful intensity that it feels like the definitive interpretation, one that Friel might have wished for.
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