Reader Reviews
The Low Road (Royal Court - Jerwood Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | JC sums it up well - Candide meets Enron. One of the most enjoyable afternoons spent at the theatre for a long while. 2hrs 50, but it flew round. Should get a transfer. 10/10. - rds | 08 May 13 |
| 3rd attempt !! In The Low Road Bruce Norris has created a fable based on Adam Smith's identification of the principles of a free market economy with all its attendant problems, set in pre-revolutionary America. At the interval I thought he had achieved the impossible with a play nearly as thought provoking and hugely funny as Clybourne Park. The humour is Pythonesque and the cast double and triple roles with gusto. The second half begins with a modern day conference on the banking crisis which says more in ten minutes than the last play here managed in an appalling 1 1/2 hours, but when the main story resumes it is soon clear that something has gone horribly wrong. Norris gets side-tarcked with too many sub-plots and speechifying and crucially most of the humour dries up. It's probably best to draw a veil over an ending of quite stupendous awfulness. Bill Paterson is the epitome of dry wit as the narrator / Smith with a few sly digs at the Royal Court itself, but Johnny Flynn is perhaps a bit too irritating to fully engage as the putative Trump-like capitalist. This is Dominic Cooke's last production as Artistic Director and it's easy to see why he wanted to go out with a piece by Norris; it's just unfortunate that neither realised that the play, or at least the second half, wasn't ready. A pity because the first half was absolutely superb. - David Baxter | 19 Apr 13 |
| Candide meets Enron in a bravura piece of theatre. What a way to go out, Mr Cooke! - JC | 18 Apr 13 |
| We loved it. Just a big ol' romp, packed with ideas and gags. Brings the economic crisis of '08 back into focus, but with hilarious period wigs, slang and a streak of real outrage. - Cynthia | 29 Mar 13 |
| the play is a masterpiece and the extraterrestrial turn adds some smiles to the serious matter. Just one request: Please work on the German, I don't expect perfect pronouciation, but please work on the German "S". Geisel (hostage) should not sound like Geißel (scourge) - ELisabeth | 28 Mar 13 |
