Discover what is being said about Mike Bartlett’s new play, which continues to run in the West End until the 26th April.
Broadway World: “Macdonald’s direction is static, with little action other than characters entering a scene or sitting on a sofa. It is frustrating, as there is so much potential in both the rich subject matter and the excellent cast. Like the staging, this production feels empty.”
The Guardian: ” The performances lift it, somewhat. There is a natural ease between Walker and Mangan: she is volubly frustrated, he is hangdog. They are best when the laughter drops off and the intensity is raised but this is not often enough. Doherty brings spirit and comedy.”
Theatre Weekly: “Bartlett’s razor-sharp dialogue and Macdonald’s deft direction ensure that this provocative piece balances the dispelling of stereotypes with nuances of such relationships. Notions of car keys in a bowl and pampas grass are firmly thrown out in favour of an honest portrayal of alternative relationships.”
WhatsOnStage: “It is also, like the entire play, often very, very funny. Bartlett’s writing hits its targets with unerring precision, but in the second half, as the action darkens and develops in unexpected ways, his themes seem more diffuse. The scenes get shorter, events land out of the blue. There’s a hint of apocalypse. It’s like being pitched from Noël Coward’s truthful social realism, into Caryl Churchill’s bleak dystopias.”
The Standard: “Unicorn is pretty sexy by West End standards, exercises the brain as well as other organs and features beguiling performances from its three stars. In other words, it’s great fun while it lasts.”
London Theatre.co.uk: “Walker is a fierce joy as Polly, barrelling through roller-coaster monologues in which she talks herself in and out of her desires. Mangan is unsurpassable at that very British self-deprecating discomfort: witness his horror when, trying to sound hip, he praises Kate’s “clobber”. Erin Doherty lends Kate an effective cool self-assurance, although all three later exhibit raw vulnerability.”
All That Dazzles: “Though enjoyable enough and with plenty of good qualities about it, it never quite manages to elevate itself to the expected level, feeling unfinished in certain ways.”
The Stage: “Mike Bartlett’s new polyamorous drama starring Nicola Walker, Erin Doherty and Stephen Mangan is more cerebral than sexual.”
Time Out: “And the actors are great fun. Walker’s blend of sardonic irreverence and curmudgeonly vivacity is a formula that’s very much her own. For all that Unicorn hinges on cliches about Englishness, it’s Walker’s gift for depicting extreme bluntness that actually gets the plot moving. Mangan is a low-key revelation as the depressed Nick – there’s some genuine grit here, and it’s certainly the least ‘I’m a TV comedy actor’ turn I’ve seen him give on a stage. And while Doherty does feel slightly saddled with the Manic Pixie Gen-Z role, she makes the most of it, her enthusiasm and openness is compelling.”
Theatre Cat: “Nicola Walker is exactly right, edging her familiar “responsible decent matronly” image with a real edge of eccentric out-of-control desperation, her bolt for new freedom suddenly knocked to the ground by the separation and the responsibility of their poor children. Stephen Mangan, gangling , clever, a bit dishevelled, nicely works out Nick’s contradictions of modern blokehood (“one of the two women introduced me to butt play” he says when confessing an affair. His wife stares in horror. Kate nods ‘awesome’). His body language is perfect: sprawling with his wife, then perched tense-legged on a bar stool when confronted with the tough Kate.”
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