Review Round-Up: WOMAN IN MIND at Duke of York's Theatre

Woman in Mind is the 32nd play by prolific British playwright and director, Alan Ayckbourn, in which Susan, a bored vicar’s wife, begins hallucinating a perfect fantasy life and ideal family after a bump on the head. Michael Longhurst directs this most recent revival of this surreal, disturbing exploration of a fractured psyche, starring Sheridan Smith as Susan, with comedian Romesh Ranganathan in his stage debut.

What are critics saying about Woman in Mind?

The Times

“Sheridan Smith is hypnotic in Ayckbourn”

★★★★

“Full marks for courage,” Clive Davies wrote, calling the play “stunningly inventive”. “The writing is simply brilliant,” he thought, with dialogue that’s “delivered with a lightness of touch that generates nearly as many laughs as a well-crafted sitcom.” He was impressed by Sheridan Smith’s performance as the out of control Susan, and thought Romesh Ranganathan as Bill gave a “brave performance… supplying a cartoonish edge that meshes with the rest of Longhurst’s slightly manic approach.” He also praised the rest of the creative team: “Soutra Gilmour’s foliage-strewn backdrop is enhanced with psychedelic video-enhanced trimmings”, while “Shifts in Lee Curran’s lighting and Paul Arditti’s sound design accompany Susan’s journey into chaos.” He concluded, “It’s so cheering to see the West End can still take risks.”

Read the review here.

All That Dazzles

“Michael Longhurst’s bold vision is incredibly creative”

★★★★

Daz Gale thought that the play’s writing is “as vivid and fascinating now as it would have been 40 years ago”, and that it excels at “using comedy with darker elements to create a hybrid play that you never know whether to laugh or cry at.” He thought Michael Longhurst’s directorial choices were “inspiring and incredibly realised on stage”, with a vision that “effortlessly sprung from his mind and burst into reality thanks to an equally impressive creative team.” “Soutra Gilmour’s set design allows for deception,” he wrote, while “a striking use of video design from Andrzej Goulding allows for comparisons to be made with Susan’s state of mind and what we are seeing” and “Lee Curran’s lighting design is utilised beautifully, particularly in the chaotic closing moments”. He thought “Smith exhibits all the complexities that Susan has”, while Ranganathan brings a “impressive and even surprising performance here.”

Read the review here.

The Guardian

“The play stands the test of time for its originality”

★★★

Arifa Akbar thought Sheridan Smith as Susan “plays the part with whimsical daintiness and subtlety, throwing out mischievous or slighted looks” while Romesh Ranganathan as Bill “brings the comedy of this nerdy sidekick to life.” She enjoyed how the play’s tone varied between “retro comedy” and “surreal nightmare”. She thought “the play stands the test of time for its originality and boldness: this is a critique of the emptiness of married life.” She wrote, “When it works, it is unnerving.”

Read the review here.

The Independent

“Sheridan Smith’s wit can’t quite elevate this frivolous fare”

★★★

Alice Saville called the play “a cheerily maximalist story of female mental disintegration”, and felt Smith brought “both wit and emotional depth to its central role”, but ultimately couldn’t rescue the production from being “a frivolous fare, unlikely to become a set text for students of either contemporary theatre or psychology.” She praised Longhurst’s “bright, punchy staging” and Smith’s “lightly manic, winsome quality as Susan”, as well as Ranganathan’s “broad and often very funny performance”. She wrote, “Soutra Gilmour’s vivid design makes the pastoral scenery behind Susan melt and swirl into psychedelic shapes.” But, she concluded, “Taken as an exploration of mental illness, this play’s blunt, larky approach feels both dated and faintly tasteless.”

Read the review here.

Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan in WOMAN IN MIND. Photo by Marc Brenner.

WhatsOnStage

"Sheridan Smith gives a strong turn in an outdated tragicomedy"

★★★

In what she calls a "subtle, sympathetic" play, Sarah Crompton thought both Longhurst and designer Soutra Gilmour did a clever job of contrasting the real and imagined worlds, while "Andrzej Goulding’s video designs blur, alter and distort" to reflect Susan's changing mental state. She wrote, "Ayckbourn’s writing straddles the line between light laughter and domestic trauma with considerable finesse." But, on the story itself, she reflected, "although its truths are universal, its characters are very much of its time." In this context, she thought "Smith’s Susan seems too contemporary and knowing", though as a performer she is "infinitely moving, her little gestures and movements of discontent convincing." She concluded, "It’s a lovely, naturalistic performance, but it exposes the artificiality of the play."

Read the review here.

The Evening Standard

"Sheridan Smith elevates this somewhat dated material"

★★★

"Smith has a uniquely vivid physical presence, and her emotions are shimmeringly close to the surface," wrote Nick Curtis. "The play," he thought, "has the cosy awkwardness of a sitcom." But "concept overwhelms character: everyone, including Susan, is thinly drawn." He also thought Longhurst's direction brought a "meta edge" to the production, but the every character outside of Susan felt like "a stock character." The talented cast makes it work: "McMullan and Brealy flesh Gerald and Muriel out through technique, while Ranganathan gets by on comic timing."

Read the review here.

TimeOut

"Alan Ayckbourn’s 1985 play is more artifice than heart"

★★★

Andrzej Lukowski called this "an alluring revival that thrills for a good while before miring in concept." He found it to be "an extremely handsome production", praising "Soutra Gilmour’s lush but menacing garden set." He also enjoyed Ranganathan's portrayal of Bill, and above all how Smith "effortlessly covers Susan’s considerable emotional terrain and the requirement to play hero, villain and victim all at once." Still, he felt Smith's performance was overwhelmed by "the lurid artifice and emotional corkscrews of Ayckbourn’s stage directions", and that Susan's real life often felt more ludicrous than her imagined one. He concluded: "There is something melancholic and Chekhovian at its core, but it’s deep, deep beneath the surface, obscured by an all consuming conceptual glamour."

Read the review here.

The Stage

"Sheridan Smith tackles role with intelligence and sensuality"

★★★

Sam Marlowe called it a "dated, blunt-edged and ultimately exasperating 1985 work" but mantained that Sheridan Smith was a good reason to watch this play anyway. He thought that "the portrayal of psychological agony seems, to 21st-century eyes, crude and unconvincing" and that aside from Susan, "the characters are flat and cartoonish." Smith, however, "tackles the role of Susan with intelligence and sensuality as well as anguish", giving it "a compelling central focus". He found that "the play’s contrivances become tiresome and there’s something crass about its closing scenes, the tonal balance uncertain." His verdict: "There’s a lack of sensitivity in the writing that feels almost trivialising."

Read the review here.

Woman in Mind is playing at Duke of York's Theatre until 28th February 2026. If you're looking for more vibrant, thought-provoking plays to start off your 2026 with a dose of theatre magic, check out our list of New Plays to Watch in London in 2026.