Dr Dee

The Arts Desk“As enjoyable as it is intelligent...” Damon Albarn’s 'Dr Dee' is dark enough to delight even the most cynical of Jubilee naysayers, gorgeous enough in its national pageantry to crown the cultural celebrations of this landmark year...

Evening Standard“It’s all about the spectacle...” Lacking a cohesive vision, it compensates for it with a whack-load of well-funded and occasionally brilliant creativity...

Guardian“Just about sustains its two-hour span...” The best moments in the music come from the heterogeneous group of instruments, including kora, viols, recorders and hurdy-gurdy, suspended above the action; the amplified theorbo, sounding like some larger-than-life harp, is a particular delight...

Whatsonstage.com“Oddly gripping, lingering in the mind, strangely unforgettable...” Unfortunately, the historic and provocative narrative is somewhat lost in this production. Thankfully, the array of visuals and the musical cocktail proved intoxicating, if sometimes opaque...

The Stage“Reveals considerable flair in the visuals...” The piece has few intellectual pretensions and is more realistically viewed as an entertaining biographical pageant. Even on that level, it’s not easy to keep a clear grasp on the narrative...

The Telegraph“Wake up, rockers, you don’t know what you’re missing...” A weirdly beautiful and original fantasia that, for sheer imagination, knocks most modern opera into a cocked hat...

The Independent“Albarn has a curious kind of limpness...” Things became totally impenetrable, with wall-to-wall special effects, helium balloons galore, and all kinds of shenanigans silhouetted, parish-hall style, by torchlight on curtains – pure am-dram...