Blackbird is a shocker. Every second of its 120-minute duration - unrelieved by an interval - is calculated to make sure you're sitting uncomfortably... the slow-burning, relentlessly intense drama at once alienates and seduces. In the play's penultimate twist, what shakey confidence you have established in the accused man is rocked to its flimsy foundations. But there is another twist to follow and, suffice to say, the smiles on the tear-stained faces of the actors at the curtain call comes as a huge relief. A disturbing but rewarding night out
The Daily Mail It is a play that poses endless questions about the dark, uncontrollable power of desire. And, even more than in Edinburgh, I was bowled over by the performances. Jodhi May captures brilliantly the tension in Una between revenge and fulfilment... And Roger Allam, his heavy features acquiring a crumpled, seamed quality, superbly conveys the progressive disintegration of a man forced to confront his past guilt. But Stein's breathtaking production also brings to a modern play the minute detail which he normally reserves for the classics... Harrower's two-hour play puts us through the wringer. But in doing so it forces us to examine our reflex moral responses. The Guardian ...The pair create a raw, wounded intensity on stage that is at times almost too painful to watch... Stein's thrilling production makes the audience uncomfortably aware of its role as voyeurs of this stark tragedy, and keeps springing surprises to the bitter end. The Daily Telegraph |
