Reviews of The Weir starring Brendan Gleeson at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London

"Brendan Gleeson’s West End debut is proof he’s one of the greats"

"The Irishman, 70, is the poster-boy for Conor McPherson’s spellbinding revival of The Weir"

"If you love the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson because of anything – or indeed everything – he has been in... then do hasten to the see him make his West End debut at the age of 70. He’s the craggy-faced poster-boy for Conor McPherson’s spellbinding, atmospheric revival at the Harold Pinter Theatre of The Weir"

"If you’ve not registered Gleeson before, you’ll leave after 100 minutes persuaded you’ve seen one of the greats in action; or rather inaction."

"As the lone female, warming to the maladroit kindness of strangers, Phillips is superbly nuanced, by turns self-composed, amused and poignantly struggling to battle demons"

"The evening belongs, despite the ensemble work, though, to Gleeson – hefty yet somehow frail, a haunted soul contemplating a dwindling here-after of old-age and aware that, when it comes to love, he has already drunk at last-chance saloon."

"A riveting return for Conor McPherson’s lonesome barflies"

"Almost 30 years on, the Irish playwright’s intimate drama brims with painful memories and comedy – brought to dazzling effect by a flawless cast"

"Conor McPherson’s rural Irish bar-room drama seeps into your bones."

"... here is The Weir, back for another round, designed again by Smith and this time directed by McPherson in a revival of such exactness it appears effortless."

"The headline star is Brendan Gleeson but The Weir is an ensemble: its characters are on different frequencies yet see each other for who they are."

"You wouldn’t want to match them drink for drink but all five characters stay with you: it’s an endlessly rewarding evening that proves McPherson’s play is built to last."

"A magnificent revival of Conor McPherson’s modern classic"

"Brendan Gleeson leads a captivating cast at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre"

"The decades have only added to it: this West End revival, directed by the Irish playwright himself, glows with wisdom and compassion. It’s a magnificent piece of theatre: richly funny, deeply moving and superbly acted by an outstanding ensemble led by Brendan Gleeson."

"There’s much grumbling — and plenty of nimble physical comedy — as Gleeson’s Jack tries to coax a stout out of a faulty bar tap and reluctantly settles for a bottle."

"It’s a play steeped in Irish literary and dramatic tradition — the hints of Beckett and Friel, the pub, the craic, the tall tales on a dark and stormy night. But what’s so moving is the way McPherson deftly reveals the real ghosts haunting this space — loneliness, loss and regret — and the way drink acts as both a conduit and a buffer to feelings."

"Very little happens and yet there is a momentous shift: something shared and a bond created."

"What a great play Conor McPherson’s The Weir is. It seems so simple, five people gathered in a pub on a winter’s night, telling each other stories. Yet within that frame, McPherson weaves words with such care and precision that it never loses its tautness."

"It is both naturalistic and numinous, an astonishing achievement when the playwright premiered it in 1997 at the age of 25, and just as wondrous today"

"The tone is jokey, realistic. All the men are, to some extent, trying to impress Valerie, vying with one another to show their cleverness."

"Each performance is pitched perfectly."

"It is a staggeringly good production of a play that is already a classic, that does so much by seeming to do nothing."

"Brendan Gleeson makes his West End debut in style"

"Astonishing to think that at the tender age of 70, the terrific Irish actor Brendan Gleeson is only now making his West End debut."

"Although his diction sometimes drifts into inaudibility, Gleeson is a natural for the enchanting poetry of McPherson's Blarney, which hypnotises the audience with its murky mood and lilting rhythms."

"Almost 30 years after it premiered in 1997, it's impressive how The Weir has stood the test of time. It catches an Ireland on the cusp of change, haunted by a mythic and painful past. But the warmth of the laughter that rolls off the audience is remarkable. And what better actor to pop the cork on such intoxicating liquor than the inscrutable, bearlike Gleeson?"

"Brendan Gleeson is powerful in an exquisite revival"

"Conor McPherson’s ghostly yarn is still haunting"

"It’s nearly 30 years since this sensitive blend of barroom yarn-spinning and low-key conversational soul-baring confirmed Irish playwright Conor McPherson as an exquisite theatrical storyteller. Now, in the first revival to be directed by its author, the play proves as haunting, and as stealthily emotionally devastating, as ever."

"McPherson’s production is cast to perfection, with a performance by Brendan Gleeson that is immensely powerful, yet immaculately contained. And the idiom and undercurrents of McPherson’s dialogue are handled with an unassuming ease that it is all too rare in so much recent writing for the stage."

"The power of narrative – of stories that release what is too painful to raise in ordinary conversation, or too terrifying to express in plainer terms – hovers over it all, a spirit released from its bottle along with the booze. In the gentle hands of its creator, this play remains a beautiful thing, as warm as it is chilling."

"Brendan Gleeson's West End debut is a delight"

"Conor McPhearson directs this revival of his 1997 play that proves a splendid vehicle for Gleeson’s debut at the tender age of 70"

"... Conor McPherson’s much-revived 1997 play is rightly considered a modern classic, and beneath the gentle comedy is a study of small acts of connection between characters who are lonely or grieving."

"If this current revival directed by McPherson seemed a little undercooked on opening night, The Weir retains its power to beguile and unnerve. It also proves a splendid vehicle for the mighty presence of Brendan Gleeson, making his West End debut at the age of 70."

"McPherson’s particular talent as a writer is his ability to build and then subtly alter atmosphere. Countless small details accrue to build up the mood of the pub"

"The humour is slow-building too, woven into the verbal tics and cadences of characters that McPherson knows inside out."

"The cast, all fine actors, did not seem totally on top of their words on press night, but you could put that down to the effect of the Paddy on the characters. All, however, are magnificently still and focused when listening."

"Brendan Gleeson in excellent in Conor McPherson’s deft revival of his own haunting modern classic"

"It’s lost none of its gently haunting, melancholic pull in the intervening years. The Weir is a classic example of a play where nothing really seems to happen, but then you realise you’ve seen pretty much all of life pass by."

"The cast quickly establishes a believable, lived-in chemistry. An effortlessly charismatic Gleeson sinks as deeply into Jack as if he’s grown gruffly out of his bar stool – crotchety and drily funny."

"McPherson builds a portrait of people whose seemingly mundane lives are deeply rooted in the landscape and history of where they live."

"When Valerie eventually reveals why she has moved to the village, it’s not a dramatic plot twist, but quietly, humanly, devastating."

"Brendan Gleeson is unfailingly eloquent on debut"

"Kate Phillips’s performance is a model of understatement among the jokes and ghost stories"

"They drink, banter and tell things-that-go-bump-in-the-night tales, which, on the surface, are not particularly scary. But an accomplished group of actors can find depths in glances and silences."

"... his production, directed by McPherson, is worth catching to see Brendan Gleeson give a display that is as unyielding and enigmatic as a neolithic rock carving."

"What grates with me, I’ll admit, are the barrages of thin, archetypally Irish humour. Some of the lines do deserve the laughs."

"Still, the shadows close in as the focus shifts to Valerie, the young newcomer to the locality who arrives with Finbar. Kate Phillips’s performance is a model of understatement."

"Brendan Gleeson is a standout in this satisfyingly simple revival"

"Conor McPherson focuses on naturalistic storytelling as he weaves the mundane with the supernatural"

"In a West End that’s full of bombast – big tunes, blinding lights, spectacular feats of stage engineering – Conor McPherson’s revival of his often-staged 1997 landmark play The Weir is a satisfyingly simple proposition."

"Garlanded Irish film actor Brendan Gleeson is the splashiest piece of casting here, and his performance is a standout. He’s got a compelling kind of worn-out gravity"

"But the whole cast does justice to this naturalistic setting, bringing carefully observed humorous touches to its insular little booze-soaked world."

"As director, McPherson treats his early work gently, focusing on naturalistic, evocative storytelling rather than drawing out this play’s more unsettling elements. This is a production that draws you in"

"Sometimes, this vision feels slightly too cosy. Valerie’s a lone female stranger in this pub. Isn’t there something menacing about these men’s urge to tell her eerie stories and break down her composed exterior?... But then, The Weir isn’t really about Valerie. It’s about the gaps her presence opens up in these men"