Inter Alia West End Reviews

Pike is an inherently physical performer, and flaws in the script are glossed over by her constant bounding around the set, morphing from courtroom gravitas to dinner party femininity and back again. Though Glover and McAlinden do get revealing chara...

Pike is an inherently physical performer, and flaws in the script are glossed over by her constant bounding around the set, morphing from courtroom gravitas to dinner party femininity and back again. Though Glover and McAlinden do get revealing character moments towards the end of the play, this is effectively a one-woman show – an extended monologue, in which Pike lays bare Jessica's powers of observation and hypervigilance about factors outside her control.

But Miller is very good at exploring the ambiguity of rape cases. On the one hand there’s the fact that ambiguity is why most of them fail in court – it is extremely difficult to obtain clearcut evidence (helpfully Jessica early on describes a ra...

But Miller is very good at exploring the ambiguity of rape cases. On the one hand there’s the fact that ambiguity is why most of them fail in court – it is extremely difficult to obtain clearcut evidence (helpfully Jessica early on describes a rare successful prosecution). But there’s also a moral vagueness that Jessica and her husband Michael (Jamie Glover) cling to, the sense that due to different understandings of the incident Harry and the girl in question might both be ‘right’, that she Jessica can hold on to her principles and her beloved son by telling herself Harry did wrong but misunderstood the situation. Miller’s plays explore why rape convictions are so rare, and portraying Harry as wildly unsympathetically would not help in that regard.

The opening line of the play is “F**k the patriarchy”, and part of the cleverness of Miller’s writing and the intelligence of Pike’s performance is that, beneath that confident pride in her achievements, her sense that she is taking on the ma...

The opening line of the play is “F**k the patriarchy”, and part of the cleverness of Miller’s writing and the intelligence of Pike’s performance is that, beneath that confident pride in her achievements, her sense that she is taking on the male establishment and winning, Jessica is ignoring the complexity of a world that is shifting beneath her feet. Her assertive feminism, her belief that she is a good judge, both publicly and privately, is suddenly challenged and revealed to be delusional.

The personal and the professional bleed into one another. Miriam Buether’s set design shows how Jessica’s home life encroaches on her working life, as the huge set piece of the perfectly co-ordinated lime green family kitchen slowly rolls into vi...

The personal and the professional bleed into one another. Miriam Buether’s set design shows how Jessica’s home life encroaches on her working life, as the huge set piece of the perfectly co-ordinated lime green family kitchen slowly rolls into view to fill the entire stage (and later breaks apart as she discovers Harry’s troubling internet search history), while two small closets are hidden in the wings to represent her chambers. Pike is constantly picking up court wigs, silk dresses, pyjamas, and even an apron styled like a judge’s robes as she nimbly jumps between these two parts of Jessica’s life. Her performance is perfectly judged.

Onstage throughout, Pike is in constant motion, slipping in and out of outfits, catching a casually flung lemon, and keeping up a sometimes amused, sometimes emotionally frayed commentary for the audience on how her gender affects her life. The role ...

Onstage throughout, Pike is in constant motion, slipping in and out of outfits, catching a casually flung lemon, and keeping up a sometimes amused, sometimes emotionally frayed commentary for the audience on how her gender affects her life. The role plays to her dramatic skills but also a flair for physical comedy, as when a clothes iron spurting steam becomes a stand-in for her bumptious barrister husband.

It is 17 years since Rosamund Pike last appeared in the West End. Films such as Gone Girl and Saltburn have distracted her from the stage. But seeing her rule over Wyndham’s Theatre with the loose-limbed aplomb she does in this reprise of Inter Ali...

It is 17 years since Rosamund Pike last appeared in the West End. Films such as Gone Girl and Saltburn have distracted her from the stage. But seeing her rule over Wyndham’s Theatre with the loose-limbed aplomb she does in this reprise of Inter Alia, the legal-meets-personal drama in which she triumphed at the National Theatre last summer, you cannot help hoping this isn’t a one-off. Will she win an Olivier award on Sunday for the National production? She certainly deserves it. This is acting at its best.

The play breathlessly unpicks its knotty moral conundrum, packaged in a style that grates. Pike’s Jess Parks is narrator as well as main character, and she describes her situation (high-flying career woman diminished to a doormat at home) and the e...

The play breathlessly unpicks its knotty moral conundrum, packaged in a style that grates. Pike’s Jess Parks is narrator as well as main character, and she describes her situation (high-flying career woman diminished to a doormat at home) and the events that befall her family (18-year-old son Harry gets accused of something life-shatteringly terrible) with so much exposition that it never scorches as it might.

If Parks, who upholds the law daily, is struggling to navigate parenting, how are those of us not in that position meant to succeed? Parks is a female judge but the messaging is very relatable, translating to all parents and all work roles, to all th...

If Parks, who upholds the law daily, is struggling to navigate parenting, how are those of us not in that position meant to succeed? Parks is a female judge but the messaging is very relatable, translating to all parents and all work roles, to all those juggling daily, to all those just trying to do their best. A devastatingly relevant snapshot of parenting, among other things, Inter Alia delivers some uncomfortable truths whilst asking ‘can we really have it all?’

Pike’s solo performance is utterly breathless while she attempts to control each aspect of her professional and home life. Well-directed by Justin Martin, she commands the space as a maverick judge, using a microphone and stand like a rock star to ...

Pike’s solo performance is utterly breathless while she attempts to control each aspect of her professional and home life. Well-directed by Justin Martin, she commands the space as a maverick judge, using a microphone and stand like a rock star to bring justice to rape and sexual assault victims. This is balanced with her domestic life, where she is busy being on top of her home life like a true matriarch: dinner on the table, shirts ironed, and a husband satisfied. Pike never misses a beat in this fast-paced show and is absolutely captivating to watch.