Demetrios Matheou

Following Snook’s Tony and Olivier Award-winning turn as Dorian, Cynthia Erivo offers her own version of smashing it out of the park. She’s such a likable, multi-talented performer, and here, across 23 characters, her versatility, charm and singular physicality are irresistible.

Perhaps the most satisfying thing about Eline Arbo’s superb adaptation is that it projects this idea through, fittingly, one of the most truly collective performances London has seen in years. More than that, the communal embrace extends to the audience, in ways that are not always comfortable – the life portrayed, from 1941 to 2006, has its share of hardship – but add to the play’s resonance and appeal. Brilliantly conceived, consummately choreographed and beautifully acted by its all-women cast, it is a bravura, and joyous feat of storytelling.

I wanted to like Frank and Percy more. It stars two of our most accomplished and personable actors; it’s quite amusing; and it carries sweet messages about friendship, love and the ability to surprise oneself later in life. And yet, dramatically, writer Ben Wetherill and director Sean Mathias offer little more than a soft-centred character study that doesn’t break free of its limitations.