Discover what critics have been saying about Helen Edmundson’s play directed by Blanche McIntyre.
Broadway World: “Running unbroken at just under two hours, the show is perfect. It offers a variety of reflections, from the more basic nature of sexism and family drama to the dangers of red-pill content and the alarming failings of our schools. It also reframes fault, instigating an interrogation of who’s to blame for the kids’ actions – both Julie’s and Mr Blake’s. Some Woman is meaty.”
The Guardian: “Directed by Blanche McIntyre and staged without an interval, there is potential brilliance here, if only the plot were better crafted and so many unfocused issues not thrown at us – from the eating disorder of one daughter (Grace Doherty) to Julie’s difficult relationship with another (Hannah Onslow), both barely explored, as well as Julie’s experience of infidelity and divorce. Each of these issues gets its moment, briefly, with characters around Julie too flimsy to feel true.”
The Stage: “Anne-Marie Duff compels as a woman tormented by injustice in Helen Edmundson’s gender-political drama.”
London Theatre.co.uk: “At its strongest, Helen Edmundson’s script is deeply unsettling, reminding us how little it can take for an ordinary life to be thrown into turmoil. It is also adept at joining the dots between our past choices, our backgrounds and the people we become. But while its concerns – from the criminal justice system to the demands of motherhood and the fallout of family breakdown – are important, together they feel well-worn. Julie’s journey to her final plea is one we see coming from a mile off.”
The Arts Desk: “New play about the stresses of life for older women is a thriller starring Anne-Marie Duff.”
The Telegraph: “Some Woman bottles a feeling among law-abiding citizens that they may be one misstep from losing everything.”
All That Dazzles: “This is a production that highlights important issues and inspires crucial conversations – I would urge people to see this not just for that reason, but because this is truly one of the most striking plays of the year.”
The Reviews Hub: “By the end, Duff’s character does at least manage some personal growth, insisting on being allowed to take up her own space. But as an exploration of women’s roles as mothers and in the wider world, Some Woman doesn’t achieve the same sense of self-belief. Instead of being a superb dissection of radicalised misogyny on the scale of Adolescence, we get a piece that gets caught up in itself. That ends up diminishing the valid points that Edmundson is so desperate to make.”
WhatsOnStage: “Some encounters end abruptly and some veer towards the melodramatic. But it’s a tense and engrossing evening and a wonder to spend it with Duff, the kind of actor you could watch forever.”
Time Out: “Under Blanche McIntyre’s direction, the pacing of the earlier scenes is slow and some recurring motifs – like the sounds of chugging trains between scenes (courtesy of sound designers Ben and Max Ringham) – are a tad heavy-handed. But the slow build also seems to be the point: it creates the sense that what happens to Julie could happen to any of us (well, any of us women, anyway). Once the tables are turned, we’re strapped in and fully invested in the ride. Robert Jones’s set shape-shifts from Julie’s naturalistic warm kitchen to a series of frigid grey investigation rooms and an echoey, hostile-looking court in which Julie appears impossibly small when making her plea.”
London Theatre 1: “There were, however, some redeemable features, particularly in Robert Jones’ set design, which transforms from Robson’s front room and kitchen, where the majority of the dialogue takes place, to other locations – and back again – without much fuss. The cast do well with what they are given, but what they are given is all over the place. A mixed bag if ever there was one.”
The Independent: “Anne-Marie Duff gives the patriarchy a kicking in this frustratingly implausible play at the National Theatre.”
Some Woman continues to play at the National Theatre until the 21st November.