We take a look at what is being said about Mike Bartlett’s new play running at the Donmar Warehouse until the 4th October.
WhatsOnStage: **** “Because it is directed by James Macdonald, the production is equally intelligent, with quiet spaces between the dialogue, room for thoughts to grow and breathe. As he has shown with the plays of Caryl Churchill, which this at times resembles, he is remarkably sensitive to the invisible ties between characters. Every one of them, in a series of brilliantly nuanced performances, has both an interior life and a say in the arguments.”
The Guardian: *** “Despite its lecturing and trowel-load of ideas, it is compelling and ambitious, Chekhovian in glimmers. Bartlett masterfully weds levity through social satire with complexity and depth of subject matter.”
The Arts Desk: **** “Mike Bartlett’s new state-of-the-agricultural-nation play is beautifully performed.”
The Standard: ** “In the past, Bartlett gave us ambitious and impressive fare such as Cock, Earthquakes in London and the prescient King Charles III on stage, not to mention the absurdly gripping Doctor Foster on TV. With this play and its West End predecessor, Unicorn, he’s descended into blather, explaining things rather than showing them to the audience. Shame.”
London Theatre.co.uk: *** “There are keen observations here and sharply witty lines, but rather than developing the characters’ inner lives, Bartlett drops clunking explanations into the text: Milly apparently had a traumatic childhood, Ruth might be doing all this in response to her former marriage to a corporate bastard. There is also slightly cavalier treatment of mental health.”
The Stage: ** “Contrived, effortful eco drama from Mike Bartlett lacks nuance and urgency.”
City Am: *** “Bartlett’s writing, as it always has been, is often funny, though too much of the script feels didactic. The talk about tech solutions to climate problems, and idealism versus pragmatism, starts to feel a little too on-the-nose and gets a bit dreary.”
Time Out: *** ” Bartlett’s dialogue is always scorching, and as ever he does a fine job of making the political personal. There are echoes of his earlier play Albion in Ruth and Lip’s rural dream, and nods to both Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem to a late vision of Lip as the staunch self-appointed ruler of a patch of land under threat of being reclaimed.”
The Telegraph: **** “Cultural alienation and questions around English identity are drawn into focus by Mike Bartlett’s Juniper Blood.”
Theatre Weekly: *** “That said, there are glimmers of strength in the performances. Terique Jarrett brings a compelling energy to Femi, injecting much-needed vitality into the proceedings. Hattie Morahan, as Ruth, offers a grounded and nuanced portrayal, even if the material doesn’t always support her. The set design by ULTZ is a highlight, with real grass lending a tactile authenticity to the rural setting. It’s a rare moment where the production’s ideals are realised with clarity and beauty.”
Broadway World: *** “Bartlett seeks to stay neutral as a child’s prospects are being weaponised. Rejecting civilisation ignores the problem by shutting it out, but leaning into a broken system expecting it to magically repair itself is equally dangerous. He tries to bring realism into a fantasy to exploit the bleak captivity of a capitalist society. Ironically, it all comes off as very performative. It’s one of those productions that look good in a program and whose result is interesting enough to appeal to patrons of varying political hues. It generates enough of a conversation to get you going, but is it Bartlett at his best? We don’t think so.”
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