We round up the reviews for Mike Bartlett’s play, running at the Lyric Hammersmith until the 4th April.
The Guardian: **** “Bartlett’s dialogue is brilliant, from the whip-smart satire to its finely observed comment on youth, ageing and what remains of idealism in mid-life. The cast is uniformly brilliant, too, in bringing out both the laughter and moments of pain, especially Stirling as the supremely self-regarding Sandra but also Isabella Laughland as Rose, who never stops sounding like Harry Enfield’s Kevin the teenager.”
The Stage: **** “Revived precisely a decade later, its central premise of the white boomer middle classes gorging themselves on economic privilege and leaving a crumbling mound of debt in their wake has become a national conversation. Yet Bartlett’s play, rather than feeling like old news, retains both its relevance and its satirical bite.”
The Times: **** “Rachel O’Riordan’s riveting revival is sharply funny with a shrewd attention to the excruciating minutiae of family dynamics.”
The Metro: **** “unlike Bartlett’s more recent Brexit play Albion, for which the playwright skilfully chose not to take sides, this work knows its target.”
WhatsOnStage: *** “It writes everything large, but O’Riordan’s direction is exceptionally well-judged. The scene in the second act – when the mutual cruelty of the parents to each other and to their children is laid bare – is beautifully played, full of silence and incomprehension as well as screaming and unkindness.”
Evening Standard: *** “Rachel O’Riordan’s zesty revival benefits from eight years of perspective on the way one selfish generation cheated its children and grandchildren, and also from a wonderfully monstrous comic turn from Rachael Stirling.”
A Younger Theatre: *** “this is a wonderful production, deliberately flawed by the playwright in an incredibly interesting way, and unique to everyone who watches it.”
The Telegraph: *** “In three trenchant, enjoyable acts, Mike Bartlett’s Love, Love, Love (2010) delivers a provocative punch to the guts of the Baby Boomers. Whether in revival in 2020, it can be described as a well-timed one is another matter.”
The Upcoming: *** “Burns and Stirling are great as a double act, especially the latter, who delivers a string of venomous one-liners in a sometimes absurd posh accent. But there’s never a sense that these two hold any real affection for each other. It renders the play one-note, denying an element of emotional truth to the box-ticking debates and unkind comedy.”
British Theatre.com: ***** “With a thumping sound-track by Simon Slater, and lit with panache by Paul Keogan, this entire production screams out loud that O’Riordan is taking the Lyric, Hammersmith into even classier territory than it has hitherto occupied. Love it!”
Love Love Love continues to play at the Lyric Hammersmith until the 4th April. To book tickets click here or visit: Love Theatre.com, From the Box Office, Encore Tickets, See Tickets, Theatre Tickets Direct.co.uk or Last Minute.com.