Theatre603 entries
Danton's Death
Opens: 15/07/2010 Closes: 14/10/2010
National Theatre, London
Set in one of France's bloodiest eras, Danton is filled with regret over the role he played in the deaths of others. Robespierre, his political opponent and a once trusted friend, brings about his downfall in the most severe and harrowing way. This political tragedy thrillingly re-imagines the turmoil of the 1794 French revolution.
For more information visit: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/57275/productions/dantons-death.html Buy: https://ticketing.nationaltheatre.org.uk/production.aspx?performanceNumber=14340Page [1]
60%
The Observer“Michael Grandage's production is politically and verbally low-voltage...” There would be more dynamism in this if the trajectory of the two characters – anal-retentive killer and libertine liberal – were less predictable. And surely there is more to the making of revolution than temperament?...
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60%
MusicOMH“There is not much dramatic suspense here...” In his National Theatre debut, Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Michael Grandage handles the declamatory set-pieces with aplomb but there is little sense of the chaos in the streets or of real danger pressing...
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80 %
The Independent“At its best in fleshing out the psychological differences...” With his little nervy wig adjustments and squeamish recoil from the touch of others, Elliot Levey's riveting Robespierre lets you see the pained, lonely consciousness of inadequacy...
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60%
Financial Times“Fine performances, but the play itself has not aged well...” Not even Brenton’s playwriting skill and ideological dedication, combined with Michael Grandage’s directorial control and the strong central cast, can make these serial debates (usually laden with Roman republican allusions) vibrant...
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60%
this is london“Easier to admire than to love...” Levey’s nicely pitched performance readily explains Robespierre’s nickname of the “Incorruptible”. His mean, reedy delivery allows no compassion or compromise...
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60%
The Arts Desk“A strangely underwhelming production...” What we get is lucid, watchable but not always terribly exciting: it's Büchner-light...
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70 %
The Stage“Visually arresting and viscerally involving...” There’s a spoiler in the play’s title that lets you know just how it is going to turn out, but it’s the journey to the guillotine, not the destination, that counts and is piercingly well argued by the vibrant Toby Stephens and Elliot Levey...
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60%
Whatsonstage.com“Doesn't quite nail the mix of rhetoric and Expressionism...” Grandage’s reductive approach is a waste of the Olivier’s epic potential, although the second half of this compressed version, with its dreams and nightmares and strange, jagged poetry is much better. The guillotine scene is frankly risible...
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80 %
The Telegraph“Often thrilling...” Michael Grandage’s production, on an impressively spare, bleak design by Christopher Oram, confidently choreographs the big crowd scenes, a thrilling trial scene and a terrific climactic appearance of the guillotine...
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60%
Guardian“Diluted, but makes shrewd psychological points...” Brenton has stripped it down to a two-hour chamber play. Bottom line - Büchner's play is about the "terrible fatalism of history" where this perfectly respectable production is more concerned with a confrontation of temperamental opposites...
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