Summer and Smoke - Review

Genre: Drama
Opened 18 Oct 2006
Written: Tennessee Williams
Directed: Adrian Noble
Cast: Rosamund Pike (Alma Winemiller), Chris Carmack (John)
Synopsis: Set in a small insular town in America's Deep South during 1916. The story of smoldering attraction and repressed passion. Alma Winemiller, has long adored John, the charismatic but dissolute son of her neighbour and the town's respected doctor. As the drama unfolds in this tale of longing and unrequited love, lives are changed in a way that none of those involved could ever have predicted.

What the critics had to say.....
NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Adrian Noble's production misses Williams's bleak comedy and becomes too winsomely picturesque, but reveals the play's enduring vitality." MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "There is much in the play to admire...Rosamund Pike endows Alma with a porcelain beauty and a simmering sensuality. Chris Carmack makes you believe in Buchanan's conversion from dissipated wreck to medical idealist...If not vintage Tennessee, it is a play which fully justifies revival." BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE for THE TIMES says, "Absorbing and well performed by everyone." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Adrian Noble's production needs more dramatic heat and exoticism — his vision of the Deep South, drunken nights and rough sex is curiously antiseptic, like Peter McKintosh's over-tasteful designs." ALASTAIR MACAULAY for THE FINANCIAL TIMES says, "This is a play on a slow burn, and its final scenes are superb. It demonstrates many of the virtues that make Williams one of the supreme playwrights of the 20th century." PAUL TAYLOR for THE INDEPENDENT says, "Luminous, sensitive and sharp production...Highly recommended."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Guardian
The Independent
The Times
Daily Telegraph
Financial Times