The Ballad of Hattie and James – Review Round-up

"A sweeping symphony of sexual identity and music"

"Sophie Thompson and Charles Edwards deliver wonderful performances in a story of musical prodigies with ‘One Day’ vibes"

"From a tune played on one of those annoying pianos at St Pancras station, Samuel Adamson spins out a beautiful epic in miniature, following the lives of a boy and a girl, musical prodigies Hattie and James."

"Adamson writes brilliant dialogue. Hattie and James are fantastic creations, of-a-type enough that there’s something to latch onto – he the Britten-loving priggish goody goody, she the Fanny Mendelssohn nut with wild hair and a bottle of vodka – but also completely unique."

"Sophie Thompson and Charles Edwards play the duo at all ages. It’s amazing to see the way they spin around each other during these long scenes, like magnets, sometimes attracting and sometimes repelling."

"Adamson’s script... it’s really good, really funny and really smart."

"A moving, music-drenched drama"

"This looks like it’s going to be that story. But it’s not. And that’s precisely the point."

"Richard Twyman's assured production doesn’t stint on showing the pain of the betrayal at the heart of the story, but also doesn’t neglect the beauty of the music."

"As Hattie, a charismatic Thompson seems to disrupt the very air around her, sandpaper raw in a world determined to box her in. Edwards holds himself with excruciatingly effective tightness, clipping his lines with the simmering precision of a desk clerk who might be about to throw his typewriter out of the window. These differing styles could easily not work, but here they spark like a match – a friendship caught over time as a very recognisable series of mini explosions. "

"There’s also excellent, versatile work by Suzette Llewellyn as the various women in Hattie and James’s life"

"While this ballad is really about a long and ignoble tradition of sidelined women, its final verse gives the women in its story their spotlight."

"Sophie Thompson and Charles Edwards are delightful"

"The performances elicited by director Richard Twymanare witty and expert. Thompson works her full range as Hattie, segueing expertly from girlish to grotesque to quietly dignified. Yet James, struggling with his sexuality and his envy alike, seems the more nuanced, developed character, even in a script that calls out the “soft hum” of misogyny and celebrates the lives of invisible women."

"Whether the special bond between the pair quite lives up to its billing is uncertain – but the revelation of the moments that have made them, as well as the missed connections that define them, are a powerful reminder of what we owe to each other."

"The leads save this confusing show"

"This is a very odd, very Hampstead play. Samuel Adamson’s elliptical portrait of the wayward relationship between two gifted classical musicians is so busy playing games with chronology that you often feel overwhelmed by the cascade of dates and decades."

"Charles Edwards and Sophie Thompson make such an intense combination that you’re almost willing to overlook the script’s wilful, self-referential tangles."

"Amid all the time-travelling, though, Edwards and Thompson are still very good company."

"Unapologetically demanding"

"Unfocused and uneven story of musical rivalries and missed opportunities"

"Charting the lifelong impact of an intense teenage friendship between two promising pianists, Samuel Adamson’s ambitious character piece explores themes of forgiveness, jealousy and artistic inspiration."

"Adamson’s text is unapologetically demanding, told in nonlinear fragments and packed with veiled references to events that we never see fully played out. Twyman does little to make the elusive story feel coherent, with an unevenly paced staging that rushes through the densest dialogue but slows to a crawl during poignant scenes."

"Although the play often seems frustratingly purposeless, its downbeat resolution feels entirely fitting, bringing the story to a close on a moving, bittersweet note."