Review Roundup: THE REAL THING at The Old Vic

The Old Vic is presenting a new production of Tom Stoppard's comedy The Real Thing, directed by Max Webster (Macbeth, Life of Pi) and starring James McArdle (Mare of Easttown, The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Bel Powley (A Small Light, The Morning Show).

Annie is an actress, Henry is a playwright, and fiction the backdrop to life. Hardly a recipe for a faithful marriage, especially when it started as an affair.

But does it matter how it began if what they have is the real thing?

Diving through layers of play and performance, reality and deceit, The Real Thing is Tom Stoppard's kaleidoscopic comedy of love, infidelity and the stories we tell.

See what the critics are saying...

Gary Naylor, BroadwayWorld.com: Symposiums (or symposia, as the Pedants’ Pedant, Henry, would no doubt instantly inform me from beneath his half-hearted mullet) are the places to explore ideas about writing. Stages should be reserved for characters we believe in, in whom we can invest hopes and fears, maybe even grow to like - after all, we’re lumped together for two and a half hours, so let’s get along hey? Such thoughts filled my head, as the play I witnessed seemed barely worthy of praise, never mind the avalanche of plaudits that have come its way since its premiere 42 years ago and consequent to its many revivals since. Had I missed something? In pooh-poohing the assessments of so many fine judges, was I just being a bear of very little brain? Or had this soapy tale (albeit with longer words, but almost as much shouting) merely outlived its utility? Probably a bit of all three.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: Artfully directed by Max Webster, with wonderful long-shadowed lighting by Richard Howell and a poppy soundtrack, the drama’s artifice is playfully exposed, maybe even sent up, with dancing stagehands bringing choreographed comedy and a light meta touch.

Marianka Swain, London Theatre: What a pleasure to have Tom Stoppard’s brilliantly inventive 1982 Tony-winning play The Real Thing back in London. Even better, both its formal daring and its frank, subversive portrait of complicated relationships are thoughtfully handled in Max Webster’s stylish and strikingly cast revival.

Dominic Maxwell, The Times: The longer it goes on, the more this production finds a plangent tone where the witty, the wise and the wounded are forever colliding. “No, it was about self-knowledge through pain,” the humbled Henry chides when his equally outspoken daughter accuses him of having written just another story of jiggery-pokery among the architect classes. Here, as elsewhere in this invigorating evening, many a true word is spoken in jest.

John OBrien, LondonTheatre1: The Real Thing is a palimpsest of a play that is so rich that I wanted to go straight back to the text and savour the language on the page as well as the stage. The riches are too many and complex to be garnered in one viewing, enjoyable as that was last night. So, it’s a real joy to see this play. I will definitely go back for a second viewing.

Average Rating: 72.0%