Reader Reviews
The Dark Earth and the Light Sky (Almeida Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Massively disappointed in this - Found it all much more precious than I expected; however the evening was mainly marred by Hattie Morahan's performance. The shrillness with which she attempted to convey distress and instability reached such a pitch that by the time the dead Thomas's effects were openedthere was nowhere left for her to go other than dropping to a ludicrous bellowing which was even less convincing. Pip Carter's performance by contrast was sensitive and measured. - lis wade | 29 Dec 12 |
| I was only dimly aware of Robert Frost, had never heard of Edward Thomas and poetry is a mystery to me so I approached this with some trepidation. Even though Nick Dear portrays Thomas as an unsympathetic prig it is actually a beautiful and often moving play. It superbly captures the burgeoning friendship between the two poets and manages to convey possible reasons why Thomas, a man beset by depression and no suggestion of physical courage, should enlist to protect a countryside that he seems to value even more than his family. The performances are exemplary: Pip Carter finds levels of humanity the real Thomas may not have possessed; Hattie Morahan is characteristically eccentric; Shaun Dooley is a revelation as the American Frost to those who have only seen his TV appearances before and the whole play benefits from a wonderful sound design by John Leonard. I was not completely convinced by Nick Dear's adaptation of Frankenstein but this was a totally unexpected pleasure. - David Baxter | 29 Nov 12 |
| This is absolutely terrible. It's the script, lumpen, tedious, no ear for dialogue, the sort of terminally boring evening that gives theatre a bad name. Nothing happens. You have to have written a phd on one of the poet characters to be able to like it. A genuinely heroic cast attempt to make it work but when the only good bit of writing is the poem (by Thomas) at the end, you know there's a problem. You will save yourself a night of utter boredom from a less than mediocre writer if you skip this - D F Taylor | 28 Nov 12 |
| To what play is the scathing review of 21 May 2010 referring? As a person who has booked Dark Earth and Light Sky, with great difficulty due to a cranky website and a very long wait on the phone. I am now confused - James Armitage | 17 Nov 12 |
| Agree with the review, and was interested in the parallel with Bloody Poetry. I saw that at the Jermyn St theatre earlier this year, and it's not something that had occurred to me before. One minor quibble - when he died, Thomas was by no means "unpublished and unsung" - in fact he'd published lots of prose works, some of which (The South Country, In Pursuit of Spring) were of high quality and successful. However, it's right that the poetry hadn't been published under his name when he was killed. - Paul Steeples | 16 Nov 12 |
| I can't describe this play any better than Michael Coveney. I can give it the 5th star though! A tremendous cast portray this complex figure and the people who loved him with great sensitivity. It is a haunting piece and I can't recommend it highly enough. - Karen Golanski | 16 Nov 12 |
| Dreadful. The acting, script and direction were all dire - the only thing to be said for it was the set! What on earth were the Almeida doing putting this on in the first place? Staggeringly over acted to the point of becoming a macabre pantomime. Surely black actors deserve to be given better material, which does not patronise or pigeon hole them, than this. And one other thing what was it with the clunky accents? It was an African 'ello 'ello. The incredibly slow response to applaud at the close of the first act tonight was a clear sign of what the audience thought of it. - rds | 21 May 10 |
