Another Country - Arts Theatre 2000

A round up of the press notices by Darren Dalglish

The revival of this 20 year old play, in the refurbished Arts Theatre, has received good notices from the popular press..... NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "It became pleasingly clear last night that this famous play, set within public school walls during some early 1930s summer, has lost little of its significance or powerful appeal. If only director Stephen Henry's company of actors sounded or looked as if they had once been public schoolboys." THE GUARDIAN says, "Tom Wisdom's Bennett conveys the sexual obsessiveness of an emotional freebooter, Ben Meyjes captures the intensity of the young Marxist, and Ferdy Roberts is quietly impressive as the puritanical school Malvolio. But the acting honours are finally stolen by Patrick Ryecart as a visiting pacifist who combines the dryest of irony with the secret glamour of the adult gay world." THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Henry's production is dependable, catching the sharp humour and mild climaxes of the writing." THE INDEPENDENT says, "Staged with great fluency on a mobile, modular set that makes the school look like a very swanky top-security prison, the production ripples with just the right ambiguity" BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "Julian Mitchell's drama of schoolboy treachery, gets a classy revival." MADELEINE NORTH for TIME OUT says, "Twenty years has done Mitchell's writing no harm - far from it. It remains witty and sharp, the characters vividly memorable." However, PETER HEPPLE for THE STAGE thought the play lacked "dramatic impetus".