We round up the reviews for Lynette Linton’s revival of Michael Abbensetts’s play, running at the Lyttelton Theatre on the 5th April.
WhatsOnStage: **** “The play has a subtle sadness to it, a sense of hopes betrayed but also achieved. It’s a fascinating addition to the repertory, one that points the way to the future, but also offers a vivid portrait of its own time.”
The Guardian: **** “As a period piece, it is entirely dusted down and stands gleaming. Oliver Fenwick’s lighting design suffuses the stage in sepia as characters recount memories, or it spotlights them in emotional ways – a sentimental technique yet it works. For all its clunkier moments, this is undefinably winning drama. Perhaps it is down to the truth of the characters, so tender, hopeful, determined and unbeaten despite everything. A retro gem.”
The Reviews Hub: **** “Frankie Bradshaw’s costume design is gorgeous and detailed, but her set, a revolving stage scattered with clothes racks and sewing machines, is too slight for the Lyttleton. The characters seem too small and far away in a play that is intimate and compact. Fortunately, everyone’s acting, especially that of Kene, fills the space with laughs, hopes and disappointments that aren’t too distant from our own age.”
The Telegraph: **** “The National’s staging of this revelatory work from the pioneering but overlooked dramatist Michael Abbensetts reclaims him as a major voice.”
London Theatre.co.uk: **** “When the company comes together, the stage is alive with their differences of opinion about who and what they should be. This is a glorious revival that proves Abbensetts’s work deserves and needs to continue to be seen.”
All That Dazzles: **** “A shining example of the power still to be mined from existing texts, and a brilliant showcase for why even the smallest of venues (Hampstead’s since-closed New End Theatre) can be the source of bonafide classics, the National Theatre run of Alterations proves how absurd it is that this play has gone un-produced for so long. Another roaring success in Lynette Linton’s increasingly stellar repertoire, the larger scale of this production will hopefully open the door to not only more of Abbensetts’ works, but those of his contemporaries and those influenced by him.”
Time Out: *** “Linton is a humane and empathetic director who’s wonderful at directing ensemble dramas. She does a typically great job here at capturing the camaraderie and the tension that defines the lives of Walker and his colleagues.”
London Unattached: “Although patchy in parts, this production of Alterations is as good a chance as any to introduce yourself to Abbensetts’s lightning-paced prose. This play has the power to give you stitches, but it will be the tears that get you in the end.”
The Stage: *** “Uneven revival of pioneering Black playwright Michael Abbensetts’ rarely produced 1978 comedy, directed by Lynette Linton and starring Arinzé Kene and Cherrelle Skeete.”
The Standard: **** “Linton keeps everything in a square patch on stage, which often revolves, with just a few dreamlike, fantasy-infused moments taking place outside the square. That little shop floor is Walker’s safe space, away from a society where – as he and Buster discuss – he’s only ever seen as ‘a problem’. And though a few threads could be snipped away here and there, Cooke and Linton don’t just revive this finely tailored play. They make it burst at its seams.”
London Theatre 1: *** “It was at least, a very eventful narrative, and one delivered by a cast with commitment and conviction.”
British Theatre Guide: “It’s a well-performed comic drama depicting the way ambition can generate a selfish blindness to the important things in life.”
Broadway World: **** “Despite lovely staging and Great Performances, the production stays a little beyond its welcome, with several scenes lingering too long. Not every forgotten work is a masterpiece, but Abbensetts’s work certainly deserves more recognition. It is in safe hands here.”
Theatre & Tonic: *** ” Once you’ve accustomed yourself to the pace and delivery, there are plenty of laughs, banter and sparring between its characters, before the play reaches a strong and thought provoking conclusion.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/alterations/