We round up critics reactions to Robert Icke’s world premiere production, which is performing until the 3rd May.
WhatsOnStage: **** “It’s in the final scenes that the play asks the key question: why is it only through violence that Moat can make people listen? Why as a society do we ignore the damaged men in our midst? But the message feels muffled. It’s a play fully of chewy ideas and superb commitment, yet its fidelity to the events on which it is based seems to prevent it from flaring into the brilliance it promises.”
The Guardian: ** “This story hangs in the air, unsure of – or opaque in – its intentions. Is this an anatomy of a breakdown? An investigation into the ways Moat was failed? Or a portrait of white, northern, working-class masculinity in extreme crisis? It seems like a bit of all, but not enough of one.”
The Telegraph: **** “With a superb testosterone-saturated central performance, this drama from Robert Icke at the Royal Court is gripping and sobering.”
Cultured North East: “Portraying such raging and hatred must take its toll on any actor, but Edward-Cook was menacing, terrifying and ultimately frighteningly believable.”
The Standard: *** “It feels timely, but like everything here it’s ambiguous, half-plea and half threat. Icke is one of the most gifted theatre artists working today – his magnificent 2024 Oedipus has just won a string of awards – but for all its intensity, Manhunt feels like it’s hedging its bets. Or worse, can’t make its mind up.”
Everything Theatre: **** “A powerful, challenging experience, Manhunt exposes the audience to the reality of the underworld of toxic white masculinity, simultaneously creating unease with and sympathy for the violent protagonist. The Royal Court, known as the writers’ theatre, once again delivers an intense, conflicting story designed to unsettle the spectator.”
Time Out: **** “Edward-Cook is deeply compelling as Moat, a sensitive brute whose unnerving mix of violence, vulnerability and monstrous physicality often seems genuinely unearthly. Flitting between the courtroom and flashbacks to Moat’s fateful few days after leaving prison, Edward-Cook’s pleading, panic-attack delivery and Tom Gibbon’s naggingly loud, organ-based score give a real sense of Moat’s fraying grip on reality.”
London Theatre.co.uk: *** “Edward-Cook is impressive as the bald-headed, bicep-flexing Moat, using every part of his imposing figure to channel aggression and physical power. He opens the play pacing the stage like a trapped animal, Ash J Woodward’s video design confining him further as it projects real-time, CCTV-style aerial footage of Edward-Cook on a screen. The video design also effectively shows how toxic online spaces can be for isolated men, as Facebook and Twitter posts filled with self-loathing are emblazoned across the stage. Their inclusion sends out a clear message in an era of Andrew Tate.”
The Stage: **** “Robert Icke’s fact-based drama about the Raoul Moat case is a harrowing, relentlessly bleak study of male violence.”
The Reviews Hub: *** “While definitely not a hagiography, Manhunt still suffers from a lack of nuance, but Edward- Cook’s towering, chilling performance makes up for some of the flaws.”
West End Best Friend: **** “Despite these small reservations, this is still an unmissable contribution to the debate around men and their feelings about themselves. There are remarkable contributions from all involved, but at the centre is a towering performance by Samuel Edward-Cook which thrills and terrifies the audience every time he advances upon them. As we leave the auditorium, he is once more pacing the stage, trapped for eternity in the cage of toxic masculinity.”
Jonathan Baz Reviews: **** “Manhunt’s production values are world class, but is the drama a well argued thesis, or has Icke simply assembled a harrowing barrage of exploitative exposition? Go see it for yourself and decide. Either way it’s a brilliant evening of theatre.”
Broadway World: ** “Manhunt (and its title is a signposting) probably had similar ambitions to catch the psyche of The People in the narrower, but definitely Zeitgeisty field of toxic masculinity, but such depth remains largely unexplored. Like police cover-ups, social workers’ priorities and the mental health crisis of Boomer men caught on the wrong side of postindustrialism, it’s alluded to but not examined in a production that resurrects a man only to bury him again 100 minutes later, having said far less than it might have. And, more pertinently, far less than it should have.”
All That Dazzles: **** “Gritty, unflinching, raw and real, Manhunt is a powerful watch. By no means a comfortable watch and one that many will have an extreme reaction to one way or another, but I’d argue that’s better than having no reaction at all.”
The Spy in the Stalls: **** ” Icke’s writing is as ambiguous as the history as he tries to dig deeper. But there is no avoiding the fact that Moat was a big, strong man who used violence against those who were weaker than him. He lied, he lacked control, and he tried to justify his actions that ruined and ended lives. It is not a good story. However, Icke turns it into a breath-taking piece of theatre. We might wonder why he chose to do so, but we are enthralled and disturbed by the experience, and the performances will stick in our minds for quite a while. A gripping production. End of story”
To book tickets visit: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/manhunt/