The Children's Hour

What the popular press had to say...

"The whole of Ian Rickson's atmospheric, slow-burning and ultimately enthralling production proves far more compelling that I expected...This is a powerful night in the West End and Knightley has impressively won her theatrical spurs"
Charles Spencer for The Daily Telegraph

"Imaginative production. "
Paul Taylor for The Independent

"There's only one question to which everyone wants the answer: can Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss cut the mustard? The short answer is that they prove as potent a combination on stage as at the box office. But, for all the excellence of their performances, and Ian Rickson's ministrations as director, nothing will persuade me that Lillian Hellman's 1934 play is any more than well-intentioned melodrama...this is a flawed piece, in which Hellman can't decide whether she is writing about the corrosiveness of false accusation or the power of buried sexual passion.
Michael Billington for The Guardian

"There is plenty to savour in Ian Rickson's assured and at times beautiful production...In short, the acting is cogent, and the stars deliver. Yet for all the glamour and hype, it's hard to escape the feeling that this is a very good production of a historically significant but rather flawed play."
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard

"Lillian Hellman's play, particularly the first half, is often gripping."
Quentin Letts for The Daily Mail

"Meticulous and moving production."
Mark Shenton for The Stage