Review Roundup: BLOODSPORT: AFTER HELEN OF TROY at Theatre Royal Stratford East

What are critics saying about Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy?

The Guardian

"Classical myth burns into modern England"

★★★★

Reviewer: Emma John

"Those versed in Greek myth – and the rest of us who’ve watched Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey – will have their ideas of where the plot is heading, correct or not. The abruptness of the play’s climax does leave us wondering what Pickett is really trying to say about free will – Ethan Moorhouse’s blisteringly poetic interludes as Messenger introduce a pantheon of external forces dressed as gods, while a naked tree reaches across Polly Sullivan’s set like a malevolent hand. But both comedy and drama are deftly paced and balanced in the production by Stratford East’s new artistic director Lisa Spirling, amplified by Nicola T Chang’s bone-shaking score and sound."

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TimeOut

"A rip-roaring dark comedy set in the aftermath of a British Trojan War"

★★★★

Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski

"I have mixed feelings about the ending, a sardonic comment on white feminism that’s momentarily satisfying but also feels more like an arch observation than a proper end to the various character arcs. But this is a minor quibble. New-ish Stratford East boss Lisa Spirling has left it a while to helm a play on her own stage, but her pacey, emphatic direction is spot on. And there are some tremendous performances: in what is virtually her professional stage debut, TV veteran Aikman is particularly great as Cee, a woman who has tried to outsource her worldview to her husband, but who is undergoing a painfully perceptive awakening. And rising star Maimuna Memon is a great get as Dani, the cheerily incompetent cleaner who may be a lot more than she appears. "

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WhatsOnStage

"A play that takes on the world"

★★★★

Reviewer: Sarah Crompton

"The action as it unfolds – as the women challenge their patriarchal, violent husbands – is genuinely dramatic, taking surprising twists and providing real shocks, underpinned by Nicola T Chang’s sound design, and tightly directed by Lisa Spirling. Dockery is gripping as Helen, aware of her beauty, furious at her treatment and there are satisfyingly complex performances from Maimuna Memon as Dani, a cleaner who is not quite what she seems (“I’m not paying her wages,” snipes Cee) and from Emma Monnickendam’s wounded Hermione who is hauntingly damaged by events that have unfolded around her. But the true glory of Bloodsport is that it confirms Pickett’s bold, confident instincts as a writer. The tension and cleverness of its conception never falters, and the words rise like a sword taking on the world."

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Michelle Dockery and Laura Aikan in Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy. Photo by Tristram Kenton

The Standard

"Ava Pickett’s urgent riposte to toxic masculinity"

★★★★

Reviewer: Nick Curtis

"With masked gangs of angry men currently on British streets, Ava Pickett’s riposte to toxic masculinity, which transposes the aftermath of the Trojan war to contemporary Essex, couldn’t feel more timely. This is an early play by the writer whose 1536 won a Standard Award and took the theatre world by storm last year. It’s less polished but still urgent and muscular. Pickett’s flair for rich, heightened dialogue, and for puncturing high drama with sudden humour, are already thrillingly present. Like 1536, Bloodsport is built around three strong and complex female roles, embraced with relish in Lisa Spirling’s punchy production by Downton’s Michelle Dockery, Gavin and Stacy star Laura Aikman and the always-watchable Maimuna Memon. "

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Financial Times

"Michelle Dockery is riveting as Helen of Troy"

★★★★

Reviewer: Sarah Hemming

"The audacity of the narrative keeps you pinned to the action, though it does raise some awkward issues: the bigger political picture remains peculiarly hazy for a country mired in civil war. But what is never in doubt is Pickett’s brilliance at creating warm, believable characters and combining acid rage at the world’s injustices with needle-sharp humour. Her dialogue crackles with wit — “I’m not paying her wages,” snaps Cee, when guerrilla warfare erupts on her spotless carpet, and it turns out that her cleaner Dani (the excellent Maimuna Memon) is nowhere near as docile as she’d presumed. Meanwhile, Moorhouse’s monologues bubble with pungent, poetic description and shrewd wisdom."

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London Box Office

"The Trojan Wars have been given a weirdly compelling, expletive-laden update"

★★★★

Reviewer: Stuart King

"Hardly a follow-up piece to Pickett’s mesmerising 1536, Bloodsport displays all the signs of being an earlier work with its clumsier narrative brushstrokes not fully smoothed-out despite the considerable efforts of cast and director Lisa Spirling. For all that, the text is ripe, ribald and energised. It is also thoroughly indicative of the playwright’s determination to place substantial female voices and characters front and centre, where they undoubtedly belong."

Read the review here.

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