Reader Reviews
Landscape with Weapon (Cottesloe (National Theatre), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | :-) - Mr U. Schneebly | 12 Jul 09 |
| It's been summed up here already, but I must add my two penenth. Ned is unbelievable as a character, and from the moment this clumsy production makes that point the rest falls apart. It is trite nonsence masquerading as deep political drama. The cat is soon out of the bag. One of the most dissapointing nights I have had the misfortune to experience at the NT for a long while. I blame, as I have done before for recent duff productions, on the abscense of Nick (Fuck the Nicholas) Hytner, who's been chasing Tonys on Broadway instead of conscentrating on bringing excellence to the NT. For CHRIST SAKE get back and do the job you are paid to do and get this company producing top quality plays again, and NOT the rag bag of duff productions produced recently. I expected so much from this play, but instead got Tom Hollander, more believable as a second rate General Studies teacher in a South London Comprehensive than a weapons designer! Where the friggin hell was the writer coming from. Clearly, not from any sense of reality. The rest of the cast were wasted in a production that didn't know what it wanted to be. Come on NT get your bloody act together! - rds | 07 Jun 07 |
| The play undoubtedly has its faults, and I'm not sure how scientifically sound it is, but it's great to be entertained and made to think by an intelligent, fairly objective debate about the morality of weapons and war. I have to say I found the traverse staging distracting, but the performances are uniformly excellent. Great to have Tom Hollander back on stage - it seems like ages. - Gareth James | 05 Jun 07 |
| terrible - like a sixth form debate in school, with actors. (who are good, and do what they can with the turgid script) - fred | 06 May 07 |
| Landscape with Weapon suffers from too many flaws to rise above being good rather than the great play it sometimes promises to be. Chief amongst these is plausibility: it defies belief that Ned should suddenly develop a conscience and start discussing his secret work with his brother, particularly as his initial doubts seem to be motivated by money rather than intellectual ownership. To his credit Joe Penhall has written a superb first half and manages to present cogent discussion on both sides of the argument. After the interval though the play suffers from the arrival of a thoroughly unconvincing spook. The ending strikes a note of possible redemption for Ned (an excellent Tom Hollander) but too often this Weapon misses it's target. - David Baxter | 25 Apr 07 |
| Starts well, but second Act is a mess. The character of the weapons designer doesn't ring true either. I've worked with these 'techie' guys and they're only interested in solving problems, and never think of the implications of what they are building or designing. If the playwright could revisit the second half it could be a fine play. - addicted to theatre | 23 Apr 07 |
| A cracker. After the disappointingly slight "Dumbshow" at the Court 2 years ago, Joe Penhall is back on the same coruscating form that made "Blue/Orange" so enthralling, with this engrossing, dynamic, intelligent yet accessible piece. Once again he tales on a big subject (here it is the ethics and accountability of lethal weaponry and modern warfare) but presents it in personal terms so that audience can appreciate the arguments while, through well drawn characters, connect emotionally with the piece as a whole. The result is one of the most satisfying and gloriously theatrical pieces of straight drama currently playing. Roger Michell's handsome traverse production simply never puts a foot wrong and neither does his fine cast: Tom Hollander has never been better than he is here as the tormented yet maddening inventor brother, while Julian Rhind-Tutt is excellent as his glib sibling. Jason Watkins and Pippa Haywood deliver hilarious yet chilling turns as the representatives of the powers-that-be. All in all, this is an elegant, exciting, unmissable nights theatre, and one which I cannot recommend highly enough. - ajh | 05 Apr 07 |
| The most interesting 'political' play for many a year, which gives a fair balance between opposing views and thankfully lacks the polemical hysteria in which so many contemporary playwrights indulge. It's funny and sad too, with four spot-on performances. - Mikey | 04 Apr 07 |
