Reader Reviews
This Is How It Goes (Donmar Warehouse, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | On the whole, I agree with Mark Shenton on this. There's some great dialogue here and all three performances are spot on (it's smashing to see Ben chaplin on stage again) but the "clever" structure and plotting becomes tiresome rather than intriguing. Still worth seeing though. I did feel the show was directed to be viewed only from the centre sections of the Donmar...it really felt like a proscenium arch production plonked into the Donmar's specific space without being reblocked. - 195.82.123.181) | 21 Jun 05 |
| An incredibly involving and genuinely funny play and the best possible use of the inimate space at the Donmar. Ben Chaplin's narrator draws in you in with a conversational style but you gradually realise you are being shown a one-sided view of events until the shattering climax when the mask slips. Three very strong performances in the best play I've yet seen from Neil LaBute and by far the best new play I've seen in the last few years. NB It is currently running at the Donmar so I'm not sure why the review is lingering in the archives. - 62.6.139.13) | 17 Jun 05 |
| This is how it goes ... This is another fabulous play by Neil LaBute. If you want to see a Neil LaBute see this one - not Some Girls. This is quicker, edgier and has that LaBute twist ... - 212.158.229.242) | 07 Jun 05 |
| So much more substantial than Some Girls and much less cynical than Mercy Seat, this play has a lot of depth and an unusual structure which brings out its depth whilst at the same time making it more entertaining. Three excellent performances, a simple but effective set and powerful staging ensure the play gets a production worthy of it. I was about to give up on Mr LaBute, but maybe not... - 81.134.200.235) | 07 Jun 05 |
| This play is very good. The actors were convincing, the characters engaging, and the dialogue witty, clever, and thought-provoking. This work represents a return-to-form for the playwrite, whose recent London works, shown at the Almeida ("The Distance from here" and "the Mercy Seat"), were average at best. Where these plays were uncomfortable in the theatre and perhaps better suited to a screen, "This is How It Goes" enjoys the space and plays with the auidence, feeding off their reactions of shock and discomfort. The scheming characters are untrustworthy, dark and manipulative. The story emerges as an innocent everyday tale of small town America, before twisting and turning, into a cynical pessimistic expose of human nature, uncovering domestic violence, adultery, and racism along the way. This is classic early Labute. - 193.128.149.99) | 02 Jun 05 |
| This is a very interesting play, and a slick production with good performances. The play itself is very clever - almost too clever because what LaBute succeeds in doing is protecting himself so well from accusations of prejudice that he cuts off one of the interesting layers of the play by deconstructing it a step too far. But its really thought provoking and worth a look. - 82.69.37.108) | 01 Jun 05 |
| Neil LaBute's best - v. clever, totally enthralling, shocking yet all too believable, still thinking about it the next day. All three actors faultless. The best Donmar production I've ever seen - and there's some stiff competition. - 198.45.26.20) | 31 May 05 |
