Hampstead Theatre presents the new comedy from Dusty Hughes, directed by Alice Hamilton. Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews.
The Stage: *** “For a comedy, there are very few genuine laughs, but thanks to the skilled cast there are a few brief moments that capture the frequent sadness of growing old, particularly in a society that patronises and belittles the elderly.”
Evening Standard: ** “Dusty Hughes offers a would-be meditation on the cost, in every sense, of ageing, but the result is flat and unconvincing.”
Broadway World: *** “Paradise manages to be an anthem to the resilience of the joie de vivre and to speak volumes of the weight of growing old in a privileged world.”
WhatsOnStage: **** “With its combination of robust characters, dialogue that veers between scabrously truthful to laugh-out-loud funny and almost always rings true, a glorious cast, and a set of issues that very much speak to the UK today, this is a winner.”
The Guardian: *** “Although the play has affinities with David Storey’s Home, it lacks that work’s visual and verbal poetry. What it does do, in its modest, slow-burning way, is remind us that it is perfectly possible to confront the privations of age with a stoic fortitude.”
Paradise continues to play at the Hampstead Theatre until the 26th January.