We take a look at what is being said about Owen Horsley’s production of one of Shakespeare’s lesser performed plays…
Broadway World: *** “There is plenty to enjoy in this production, but at the same time not enough to mark it as a standout or exemplar; perhaps combining the ideas of this one with the aesthetics of Gregory Doran’s 2018 version at the Royal Shakespeare Company would have a more satisfactory effect.”
WhatsOnStage: *** “It’s a challenging conclusion to the Globe’s 2025 season, albeit one that’s presented with a great deal of popular appeal. As an opportunity to tick this rarity off a Shakespeare bucket list, it’s probably about as accessible as this deliberately un-crowdpleasing play ever will be.”
The Guardian: *** “It bursts with ideas and invention, perhaps too much so. There are so many ideas and comic inversions that they create complication that verges on chaos.”
London Theatre.co.uk: *** “But for all the performative theatrics, alongside the use of a mobile phone within the action and the sense of some perverse reality show unfolding in front of our eyes, Shakespeare’s depiction of a populace worn out by ceaseless combat flits in and out of focus. Horsley’s judicious cuts to the text keep proceedings from resembling a fusty history lesson, but this play’s singular dark, depraved centre never quite lands.”
The Telegraph: ** “By confusingly ramping up the comedy in Shakespeare’s Trojan epic, the Globe loses sight of what makes the play tick.”
All That Dazzles: **** “I could not identify a single weak performance as the company of fourteen bestrode the Globe stage on which stood a giant version of what audiences would recognise as a take on Terry Gilliam’s emblematic ‘Monty Python foot’ (design by Ryan Dawson Laight)—you know, the giant foot that randomly stamps down from the heavens obliterating objects beneath it, a satirical comment on the Gods’ control over, and ridicule of, their human pawns.”
The Standard: **** “Though supposedly written after Hamlet in around 1602, Troilus and Cressida is nowhere near as tonally or narratively coherent. Yet it becomes a vivid, kaleidoscopic exploration of human foibles in Horsley’s staging. A troubling play for troubling times.”
The Stage: *** “Lucy McCormick stars in an irreverent take on Shakespeare’s problem play.”
The Reviews Hub: *** 1/2 “This is a brave reading of a difficult play. It has a lot of funny bits, a lot of startling moments, and tries to get round the fact that, even though Shakespeare named the play for the lovers, Troilus and Cressida really aren’t the main attraction. That’s Shakespeare’s choice, not Owen Horsley, and he deals with it commendably.”
British Theatre Guide: “Overall though, thanks to the comedians and the efforts of Laura Pyper, a star in the making with lively stage presence and comic sensibility, this is an enjoyable romp through a difficult play.”
West End Best Friend: **** “In his Globe directorial debut, Owen Horsley delivers a Troilus and Cressida that brims with wit, sharp satire, and surprising modernity.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/troilus-and-cressida/