The Night Alive

What the popular press had to say...

"Fine performances...Ciaran Hinds is both touching and laconically witty as a solitary man attempting to make the best of a life that has gone off the rails...[However] it's hard to escape the feeling that [Conor] McPherson has mislaid his mojo."
Charles Spencer for The Daily Telegraph

"The Night Alive is strangely opaque. It is twisty and intriguing, yet there are too many unanswered questions. And while it's only right that [Conor] McPherson should be at pains to avoid saying what his play is about, its meanings feel a little too elusive."
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard

"This is a sparse, simply constructed play. Is it believable? Not entirely."
Quentin Letts for The Daily Mail

"Shows the disruptive impact of a female intruder on a world of masculine solitude. It makes for a thoroughly entertaining 105 minutes, without ever offering startling insights into the author's familiar theme...Much as I like the play, however, I feel that McPherson, whose great strength lies in his resonant language, for once introduces too much plot."
Michael Billington for The Guardian

"A beautiful meditation on dependence and redemption."
Ben Dowell for The Stage

"Beautifully-acted... The play relies too much on small recuperative jumps in time that have the effect of making you wonder whether you have partly imagined the extent of the violent horror and darkness at its core.The ending too (is it real or a fantasy?) seems bet-hedging rather than ambiguous. A fine evening but not top-flight McPherson."
Paul Taylor for The Independent