Reader Reviews
Mourning Becomes Electra (Lyttelton (National Theatre), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | A curious thing: with a four-and-a-half-hour marathon you'd expect to start the evening feeling bright and end it by wilting. This great production did exactly the revese to me: after a week of snow and headaches I only made the trek up to London because I couldn't bear to waste my precious ticket. By 10.40pm I was on a high, such is the greatness of this magnificent achievement. Maxwell Cooter is spot on in his review - not least in singling out Paul Hilton for praise. He was astonishing, and hasn't received the credit he deserves for this play. It was a wonderful evening. Job - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.144.130.1) | 30 Jan 04 |
| There are some productions that stand out as absolutely exceptional and this is unquestionably one of them. It is quite remarkable. A play of extraordinary psychological depth - don't be put off by the accusations of melodrama. Riveting performances all round but particularly from Eve Best who gives the performance of a lifetime. Howard Davies directs magnificently. Bob Crowley's design is just breathtaking. As others have said, this is why he have a National Theatre. Congratulations to everyone involved in this production. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.93.34.14) | 10 Jan 04 |
| After Helen Mirren kills herself at the end of act 2 the play goes downhill fast. Nice set but nothing that fantastic. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (205.188.209.82) | 21 Dec 03 |
| I never thought 4.5 hours could be quite so rivetting! This is a thrilling evening - a truely great play given a magnificent production with an ensemble to match. It's what the National is for. Miss it at your peril. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (212.211.102.28) | 02 Dec 03 |
| Helen Mirren, Eve Best (up for an award, surely) and Paul Hilton are superb in, admittedly, a very long evening. Despite my concerns about drifting off in the Stalls and completely losing the plot, I was completely hooked. Bob Crowley's sliding set is very impressive - and never better than when it transforms into a ship in the second play. The final scene - maybe less than a minute long - burns itself into your memory. Four stars, easily... and nearly five. Andrew B - USER: Whatsonstage.com (193.130.127.205) | 01 Dec 03 |
| Still thrilling from seeing this wonderful production last night. A contender for best production of the year of the near 50 I've seen this year. O'Neill, what a wonderful writer; Long Day's Journey is one of my favourite 'modern' plays and Mourning, while tipping into melodrama at times, is beautifully and unerringly realised here by Howard Davies. The cast are magnificent including Helen Mirren, Eve Best and Paul Dillon. Dominic Rowan, who usually sounds like Swiss Tony whenever I've seen him, hear sounds like Mayor Quimby. The set is great with a terrific coup in the seond act. Don't be put off by the length; it flies by. I was gripped throughout and my partner, who has been known to fall asleep, was similarly rapt. Five stars no question and wonderful way to round off a day that began with England finally winning a world cup.Hurrah! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.35.62.168) | 27 Nov 03 |
| Well it's certainly long, and it's full of typically repetitive O'Neill emoting, but I though it was wonderful (and it was only the first preview that I saw). In place of the inexorable fates of the Greek tragedy upon which it is loosely based is the relentlessness of the damaged Mannon family psyche - Howard Davies ensures that you feel them all being dragged into the abyss just as if the furies were on them. Helen Mirren and Eve Best are outstanding, and there are some other very good performances (especially from Clarke Peters - and the chorus-like neighbours who start each of the three plays are very engaging), but it's the women's play. For once O'Neill has written women of depth who aren't merely mother-or-whore ciphers (although these two, as Gary Lineker once said of Princess Diana, are undoubtedly trouble). The set is remarkable; it evolves half way through like one of those toy transformers of the 80s, and made me exclaim out loud, which I don't do as a rule. I can't say the last half hour didn't seem long. But, as with the NT's Three Sisters from last month, that suits the mood...as with the sisters, you are left in no doubt that the life of the final character that you see is going to pass very slowly. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.35.62.168) | 27 Nov 03 |
