Review Roundup: The Critics Weigh In on Laura Linney in MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON

Laura Linney makes her London theatre debut in Pulitzer Prize-winning Elizabeth Strout's My Name is Lucy Barton, directed by Richard Eyre at the Bridge Theatre.

My Name is Lucy Barton is designed by Bob Crowley with lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by John Leonardand projection design by Luke Halls. For this strictly limited 3 week run, evening performances are Monday to Saturday at 7.45pm with Saturday matinees at2.30pm.

Unsteady after an operation, Lucy Barton wakes to find her mother sitting at the foot of her bed. She hasn't seen her in years, and her visit brings back to Lucy her desperate rural childhood, and her escape to New York. As she begins to find herself as a writer, she is still gripped by the urgent complexities of family life.

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Nicole Ackman, BroadwayWorld: In her West End debut, Laura Linney proves that she is one of the greatest actresses in the theatre industry today. She stars in My Name is Lucy Barton, Rona Munro's adaptation of Elizabeth Strout's award-winning novel at the Bridge Theatre. This ninety-minute monologue showcases Linney's talent as she plays a writer reminiscing about her difficult upbringing and time spent in a New York City hospital in the 1980s.

Michael Billington, The Guardian: Novels, depending on the stream of time, rarely make good plays. Elizabeth Strout's first-person narrative, longlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2016, however, breaks the rules and fits perfectly on the stage. That's partly because of the quality of the writing and partly because of a beautifully nuanced solo performance by Laura Linney: a space that recently looked underpopulated with a four-character play, suddenly feels colonised by Linney's commanding presence.

Matt Trueman, Variety: Stories have a way of opening up on a stage. Elizabeth Strout's bestselling novel "My Name Is Lucy Barton" looks, at first glance, like a curious choice for a theatrical adaptation. It's ruminative, reflective, and all but becalmed: a bedbound writer's hazy recollections looking back on her life. There's little action, still less drama, scant theatricality. And yet, in Richard Eyre's understated staging, exquisitely performed by Laura Linney, its stillness and slowness come to seem like strengths. Lucy Barton's personal meditation blossoms into something bigger than itself - a portrait of America, perhaps even of history as a whole.

Paul Taylor, Independent: Laura Linney gives a luminous - unaffected and deeply affecting - performance in this 90-minute monodrama which has been adapted by Rona Munro from the best-selling, first-person novel by Elizabeth Strout.

Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph: "It was many years ago now, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks." So begins Elizabeth Strout's best-selling novella of 2016, and so begins Rona Munro's deft adaptation of the book, which brings the multi Emmy award-winning American actress Laura Linney onto the British stage for the first time.

Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard: At first I feared I wouldn't get along with Lucy Barton. This Lucy Barton, at least, as there is a danger inherent in opening up something small and perfectly formed, in this case Elizabeth Strout's marvellous 2016 novel which is essentially a monologue, and exposing its intimacies in a big space, namely the almost bare stage of the 900-seat Bridge Theatre. Constant mitigation, however, is provided by that outstanding American actress, three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney, who gives a compelling 90-minute solo performance full of her trademark nervous smiles.

Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter: Elizabeth Strout's delicate, deceptively intricate novella My Name Is Lucy Barton is adroitly adapted for the stage by playwright Rona Munro and director Richard Eyre, creating an elegant setting for the bright jewel that is Laura Linney's solo performance.

Tim Bano, The Stage: Rather than a monologue, Rona Munro's adaptation of Elizabeth Strout's novel feels like 90 minutes of epilogue. The wistful tone, the crushing moments of coming to terms with childhood traumas, the goodbyes: it's like one great coda to a life whose complexity is unpicked and exposed on stage. And it's utterly riveting.

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