Berenice

What the popular press had to say...

"The evening, as a whole, is quietly compelling. It certainly breathes what Racine called 'that majestic sadness which is the whole pleasure of tragedy'. But the real secret is that it reminds us that even Racine's elevated characters suffer like the rest of us."
Michael Billington for The Guardian

"Berenice is a play that doesn't exactly grip...heavy-handed production...It has to be said that many in the audience seemed more enthralled than I was and I can only conclude that I must be allergic to Racine. "
Charles Spencer for The Daily Telegraph

"The play nibbles at the psychology of romantic rejection but it is all done with stiff-lipped restraint. Josie Rourke's production is almost heroically formal. It benefits from a striking staircase, delicately constructed.
Quentin Letts for Daily Mail

"A tragedy that untypically ends in tears and renunciation rather than in revenge and gore."
Paul Taylor for The Independent

"There are handsome performances in this new version of Jean Racine's seventeenth-century French classic, with Anne-Marie Duff especially strong in the title role. It's a play worth reviving, but not Racine at his best."
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard