Review Roundup: WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL at Almeida Theatre

Almeida Theatre is presenting Women, Beware the Devil, the deadly new play of treachery and trickery by Lulu Raczka (Antigone, Nothing) now through Saturday 25 March 2023.

Full casting includes Leo Bill (The Duchess of Malfi; Posh), Carly-Sophia Davies (Spring Awakening; The Eternal Daughter), Aurora Dawson-Hunte (Queens; Cherry Orchard) Ioanna Kimbook (The Duchess of Malfi; Bitter Wheat), Nathan Laryea (Spring Awakening; Tartuffe), Lydia Leonard (Little Eyolf; Wolf Hall), Alison Oliver (Best Interest; Conversations with Friends) and Lola Shalam, who is making her professional debut.

A war is brewing. Rumours are flying. A household is in crisis.

...and the Devil's having some fun.

For Lady Elizabeth nothing is more important than protecting her family's legacy and their ancestral home. When that comes under threat, she elicits the help of Agnes, a young servant suspected of witchcraft.

But Agnes has dark dreams of her own for this house.

Women, Beware the Devil is directed by Rupert Goold.

See what the critics are saying...

---

Alexander Cohen, BroadwayWorld: Rupert Goold doesn't maintain his directorial grip on the script. It begs an interesting question: given that the text is so quick to capitulate between feminist-tinged black humour and serious meditation on gender politics one cannot help but wonder whether a female director would have been better suited to execute it. Just a thought.

Matt Wolf, London Theatre: Greater consistency of tone might help. As it is, it's difficult to reconcile a smirking tendency towards archness with passages of genuine authority and passion as characters shape-shift, both physically and psychically. I applaud the Almeida's decision to forego star names to give the next generation a chance, but the play needs greater cunning and more significant horror, too. It's all well and good for a show to chance the word "boo" but not if one's response to the scare tactics is a mere shrug.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: Raczka is a bold and brilliant playwright whose previous work shows risk-taking. Maybe this is a risk too far. If it is a failure, it is a heroic one, performing the rare feat of leaving this critic impressed, exasperated but temporarily speechless. What just happened?

Nick Curtis, Evening Standard: The shape-shifting audacity of the play makes it exciting to watch, if ultimately confounding. Leonard holds queenly sway with a mixture of casual amorality and gritted-teeth exasperation. Bill too is very funny as the lascivious, incestuous and fundamentally cowardly Edward: a man who's cavalier in the worst possible sense. Oliver, a relative newcomer, is impressive, though seems at times boggled by her role. This is a wild ride with the Devil. And if anyone can conjure up a theory that explains it all, I'd love to hear it.

To post a comment, you must register and login.