Review Round-Up: JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN at the Royal Court Theatre

What are critics saying about John Proctor is the Villain?

WhatsOnStage

“The themes of Kimberly Belflower’s dazzling play are universal”

★★★★

Reviewer: Sarah Crompton

“All of this is contained on a set that is designed by AMP, featuring Teresa Wiliams, to resemble the most real of schoolrooms with slogans such as “Lightbulb moments” and “mindset matters” on its walls, and half tennis balls on the desks and chairs to stop them scraping. The lighting by Natasha Katz makes the changing times of day stream through large windows down one side but also fulfils a more metaphorical purpose by highlighting the women at moments of revelation or doubt.Beautifully acted and directed with deep care by director Danya Taymore, it’s a witty and convincing picture of teenage girlhood, its brightness, hopes and fears.”

Read the review here.

The Evening Standard

“Terrifically provocative”

★★★★

Reviewer: Nick Curtis

“Though the play is mechanical in the way it works through #MeToo issues, with some scenes straining credibility, Belflower is acute on the way women and girls are manipulated and gaslit. And on victim-blaming and the excuses people make for predators. “My dad didn’t, like, rape her!” Ivy says of her dad’s accuser. The recasting of the “witch hunt” of The Crucible as way to silence and control women is cleverly done. And you’ve got to love a play that includes a primal scream session brought on by the utterance of the word “penis”, a scene where two girls reconcile by laughing together to the point of exhaustion, and interpretative teenage choreography to Lorde’s Green Light. Metaphorically at least, men are still trying to stop women dancing.”

Read the review here.

The Independent

“Explosive entertainment”

★★★★

Reviewer: Lucy Curtis

“Kimberly Belflower’s script is wonderful, capturing the teenage cadence with an accuracy most writers could only aspire to. The distinctly 2018 references are carefully included, never overwrought, and conversations between characters—whether about their studies, explorations of feminism or general chatter—feel intensely real. Without relying on clunky exposition, we get a feel for each character early on. The inclusion of Nell (Lauren Ajufo) as a more recent addition to the friendship group gives an excuse for information to be shared vocally, and also acts as a slightly more external, “worldly” figure to this tiny one-stoplight town.”

Read the review here.

The cast of JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN. Photo by Manuel Harlan.

TimeOut

“The Lorde-loving, #MeToo-interrogating high school-set Broadway smash is a total blast”

★★★★

Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski

“But what Belflower does do brilliantly is nail the intersection between the relatively brief apex of the #MeToo movement and a generation of smart, naive school girls who would have been the right age to absorb its rhetoric at the precise moment they’re discovering what it was a reaction to. Plus, it has a banging soundtrack, with Lorde’s 2017 hit ‘Green Light’ embedded deep in its bones, and discussed in reverent tones by its young characters in a way that feels poignant and illuminating: school girls don’t geek out over ‘Green Light’ anymore, and they probably don’t discuss #MeToo either. If this sounds like it has the potential to come across as a bit like a po-faced lecture then that couldn’t be further from the case. Danya Taymor’s production – which transfers recast from a smash Broadway run – is an absolute blast, the many serious issues raised all of a piece with its breathless ebullience and Belflower’s endlessly witty text.”

Read the review here.

The Guardian

“Arthur Miller’s classic sparks a #MeToo moment”

★★★

Reviewer: Arifa Akbar

“It is sweet but slow and slight until the parallel to Miller’s play is revealed with a shock. The initial Dead Poets Society vibe sours and Miller’s play takes on dark contemporary relevance around #MeToo, although this parallel stays hazy: there is a sense that Ivy feels her father is a casualty of the witch-hunt, but there is also a raised consciousness around male predatory behaviour, which has until now remained unspoken by these teenagers. Soverall is a standout in a role originally played by Sadie Sink in Taymor’s Broadway production; she and James have an intimate and awkwardly goofy chemistry as estranged best friends that is tender and convincing.”

Read the review here.

The Stage

“Has a huge, pulsing heart”

★★★

Reviewer: Sam Marlowe

“Hot on the hormonally charged heels of Miriam Battye’s excellent The Virgins, another drama of teenage sexual politics and friendship arrives in London. Kimberly Belflower’s 2022 play, a hit on Broadway, is less savage and more soft-focus than Battye’s – and it’s also at pains to spell out its themes and subtext, sometimes to a declamatory, over-explicit fault. But, in a tenderly handled production by Danya Taymor, it has a huge, pulsing heart and captures something of the thrilling, almost unbearable intensity of adolescent girlhood, building to a wildly emotional conclusion of mingled defiance, joy, rage and hope.”

Read the review here.

If you loved John Proctor is the Villain, you might enjoy some of the other shows we featured on this list of women-themed plays and musicals. And if you need more inspiration for shows to watch this year, check out our list of New Plays to Watch in London in 2026.

John Proctor is the Villain Tickets