Reader Reviews
This House (Cottesloe (National Theatre), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Nothing short of perfection in every respect, completely riveting start to finish. - Andie | 20 Nov 12 |
| Brilliant - after the super (and quite different) 'Curious Incident' the National hits it out of the park again. Whip-smart script, clever direction, and what a cast! - addicted to theatre | 17 Nov 12 |
| Fantastic. A superb ensemble piece which brilliantly shows how the real business of goverment works, particularly in turbulent times like the 70's with some lovely glimpses of the respect and humanity of members of all parties. The staging has to be of the NT's best. This is theatre at its very best. - Paul Wallis | 08 Nov 12 |
| Top class entertainment. Terrific pace and completely engrossing. If you can still get tickets, try and get on one of the benches. - DCH | 21 Oct 12 |
| Absolutely superb in every way! Amazing cast, amazing topic, amazing staging, amazing direction. A delight! A great antidote to the horror that is Dammed by Despair. I do hope Coveney is sacked soon. - Cassox | 12 Oct 12 |
| Great entertainment, with many chuckle-worthy moments. The production will be transferred to the Olivier Theatre at the National in 2013. I had every confidence that that would happen. Pleased for all concerned. - Arctic Fox | 12 Oct 12 |
| Seen on September 26. This House deals with the 1974-79 hung Parliament, minority Labour government and the Lib-Lab pact seen through the eyes of the opposing Whips as they desperately try to round up as many MPs as possible to their side of the division lobby. This period exactly coincides with the start of my interest in politics and James Graham has clearly done his research into this most fascinting and Machiavellian of Parliaments. However, too many of his characterisations are disappointingly cliched stereotypes and his insistence on referring to almost every MP by their constituency is irritating and not entirely accurate, making it difficult to remember associations between names and places as we see largely anonymous portrayals of John Stonehouse, David Steel, Norman St John Stevas, Tam Dalyell, Gerry Fitt and mmany others. Unfortunately there is almost no context of events outside Westminster with barely a mention of the miners' strike, Militant or the Winter of Discontent and hyper inflation. After the shock resignation of the wily but effective Harold Wilson the Callaghan government was the weakest and least competent since before the war (remember "Crisis, what Crisis"?). It didn't collapse because of the machinations of the Whips but because of a complete collapse of confidence amongst the electorate as the public services seemed to be permanently on strike. A stellar cast do wonders with a huge panoply of characters, especially Philip Glenister and Charles Edwards as the two opposing Deputy Chief Whips, portraying a grudging respect and even friendship across the party divide. Special mention also for Howard Ward who stepped in to play Bob Mellish and, even on book, was probably a more convincing performance. James Graham is a young writer and, although This House works extremely well as a highly entertaining piece of often very funny political drama, his lack of personal experience of the desperately grimm second half of a pretty awful decade is all too obvious. - David Baxter | 10 Oct 12 |
| Immerse yourself in the 1970 politics, especially if you are of a pre-bewildered age, with a fast-moving smart, and very graphic montage of Chief Whips offices during this slender majority era. Amazingly produced, surrounded by the action and well worth an evening highlighting the chaos of one of the arms of the Establishment. - sjw | 26 Sep 12 |
| I learned more in three hours than in 10 years wahtching newsnight. Brilliant cast and great direction. A must see if you can get a return ticket. - Elisabeth | 24 Sep 12 |
