Review Round-Up: THE UNBELIEVERS at Royal Court Theatre starring Nicola Walker

Written by award-winning playwright Nick Payne (Constellations, We Live in Time) and directed by Olivier and Tony Award winner Marianne Elliott (War Horse, Company), The Unbelievers is the story of Miriam (Nicola Walker) in the aftermath of the disappearance of her teenage son, Oscar. Jumping through time, it paints a harrowing portrait of motherhood and the refusal to give up hope in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.

What are critics saying about The Unbelievers?

TimeOut

‘Nicola Walker gives the performance of her career’

★★★★

Andrzej Lukowski was full of praise for Walker’s performance, particularly her ‘unique gift for proper nuanced acting filtered via an unshakeable deadpan grumpiness’, and called this the first time ‘Nicola Walker has ever truly successfully brought her innate Nicola Walkerness to bear in a theatre role.’ He acknowledged that ‘Payne’s structure will surely be a sticking point to some: the out-of-order scenes feel like a sort of random anthology of grief for a while’, but he found it ‘beautifully written’, and overall ‘a haunting but disarmingly funny portrait of grief turning into something else, that elicits a career best performance from its star.’

Read the review here.

The i Paper

‘A performance of blistering potency’

★★★★

Fiona Mountford was also impressed with the acting and with Nick Payne's unorthodox handling of such a complex subject. She praised the play’s depiction of the non-linear nature of grief through ‘this family’s excruciating limbo-like state’. She praised how ‘Marianne Elliott’s clever production divides the stage into front and back sections, which designer Bunny Christie dresses with deliberate anonymity’, and how ‘Payne allows shards of dark humour to leaven the gloom’.

Read the review here.

London Box Office

'Funny viewing, followed inevitably by harsh and uncomfortable scenes'

★★★★

Stuart King appreciated the split set and was full of praise for Payne's dialogue: 'the results are invariably real and messy and as a consequence, breathtakingly powerful and insistently demanding of our attention.' He was less convinced by the 'odd abandonment of chronology which leaves several scenes marooned in the midst of urgent moments.' 'It doesn’t ruin the play,' he observed, 'but it is frequently jarring and yet doesn’t appear to add anything of notable value. He also praised the cast, and their ability to convincingly present a multitude of wildly varying emotions.

Read the review here.

The cast of The Unbelievers. Photo by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

The Evening Standard

‘Empathetic and sincere, with a powerhouse performance from Nicola Walker’

★★★

Nick Curtis was also full of praise for Nicola Walker’s performance: ‘she is outwardly calm, even bleakly humorous, but also as tightly sprung as a mousetrap, ready to snap and wound those closest to her at any moment.’ He found the play ‘sincere, empathetic and surprisingly funny’, but simultaneously ‘relentless and lacking in tonal variety’, calling it ‘well cast and sharply focused but also heavy-handed in places.’ He was also unimpressed with an ‘attempt to shoehorn faith and spirituality into the dialogue’ and felt that ‘Payne’s determination to lean into the awkward comedy that accompanies even the worst tragedies sometimes topples into clumsiness.’

Read the review here.

The Stage

‘Nicola Walker is fiercely compelling in Nick Payne’s elusive new drama’

★★★

Sam Marlowe also enjoyed Nicola Walker’s performance: ‘Walker, clenched, aridly funny, furious and utterly desolate, is fiercely compelling.’ He found the rest of the cast ‘raw and committed, and there are moments that bristle with feeling, choked back like shards of glass.’ But he was less impressed by the writing: ‘The writing also, despite an astute and sensitive production from Marianne Elliott, has an air of contrivance. The dialogue, although sometimes spiked with bitter wit, often feels effortful, with the themes and characters arranged with geometrical precision.’ He concluded, ‘It ultimately feels as though Payne’s play is equally frustrated in its attempt to grasp at substance. But it does leave behind a definite ache.’

Read the review here.

The Telegraph

‘Walker’s star turn has ensured a sell-out run, but it’s not enough to save Nick Payne’s fragmented drama’

★★★

Dominic Cavendish wrote that Nicola Walker’s ‘compelling’ performance, which ‘brilliantly conveys a combative, alienating defiance’ and her star power weren’t ‘enough to convert the skeptical to the play itself’. He was disappointed that Oscar, the missing son, wasn’t given enough substance as a character in the story, and was critical of the ‘too many incidental details and moments of humour.' He was also less keen on the play's handling of timelines: ‘Payne’s tricksy chronology, shuttling across the years, means that vital dramatic depth goes missing in action.’

Read the review here.

WhatsOnStage

‘Intermittently engrossing, well-acted and slickly staged’

★★★

Alun Hood found the play to be ‘an intermittently engrossing, well-acted and slickly staged look at loss, grief and how closure is impossible without answers’, but felt that ‘Payne’s writing and Marianne Elliott’s production tend to be as elliptical and inconclusive as the subject matter.’ He praised the cast, calling Ella Lily Hyland and Alby Baldwin ‘wonderfully natural and emotionally true’. He found the set to have ‘a chilly, institutionalised feel, in contrast to the more elaborate, expressionistic sound and lighting designs’, noting that: ‘The tonal inconsistencies may be deliberate, but they make for a frustrating experience overall.’ He concluded, 'In terms of writing, structure and staging, it isn’t sufficiently focused to be really satisfying, and it ends with a moment of ham-fisted symbolism that feels like over-egging.’

Read the review here.

The cast of The Unbelievers. Photo by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

The Times

‘A curiously static piece’

★★

Clive Davis found Nicola Walker ‘thoroughly persuasive’, but was less convinced by the play’s ‘toying with the chronology’, which he felt ‘makes it hard to share in the anguish of Miriam’s family’ and leaves the audience ‘in a sort of limbo’. He was impressed with the cast overall, but noted: ‘It’s always a bad sign, however, when you catch yourself admiring the actors’ technique rather than caring about the characters they represent.’ He also found the play’s comedy jarring and felt that ‘some of the symbolism is less than subtle’.

Read the review here.

The Guardian

‘Nicola Walker grapples with family tragedy in a flat drama’

★★

Arifa Akbar found the play ‘tonally uneven’ with ‘ill-fitting moments of comedy’. ‘There are strong stand-alone moments but something feels off,’ she wrote, ‘with a flatness of tone and an injection of ridiculous comedy that chips away at the family tragedy, shrivelling its effect.’ She was left unconvinced by the play’s attempts at humour, saying that it ‘drives the play from tautness to bagginess, from depth of feeling into wacky territory.’ She was also unimpressed with the characters: ‘Actors seem stranded too, trying to hold up characters that do not always feel real.’ Despite the compelling subject matter, she felt 'it just does not cut deeply enough’.

Read the review here.

The Unbelievers is playing at the Royal Court Theatre until November 29th. Eager to catch it while it's still running and see if you agree or disagree with these critics? Check out our Top 10 Tips for Booking Your Theatre Tickets for a complete guide on the quickest, most efficient ways to snag tickets for the shows you're excited to see.