The Line of Beauty reviews round-up at the Almeida Theatre London

"A captivating portrait of Thatcher’s Britain"

"At London’s Almeida Theatre, this moving adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s novel is a drama of materialism and polarisation"

"What hits you with The Line of Beauty is the brash, conspicuous materialism of the era, the extremes of wealth, the deep divisions of class and the illusions of inclusion versus the stark reality."

"Holden’s adaptation, another two decades on, takes on the quality of a memory play and a cautionary tale."

"Nick’s Gatsby-like experiences spool out in Michael Grandage’s beautiful, hypnotic production like some sort of fever dream."

"Charles Edwards and Claudia Harrison bring a perfect blend of easy charm and deep-seated entitlement to Gerald and Rachel Fedden"

"The moment when Nick dances with Thatcher feels sharply symbolic here of his shifting principles. And this is where Grandage’s staging excels... Grandage makes key moments ring out like telling memories and the second half, drawing towards 1987 and played in a much more minor key, becomes increasingly elegiac and moving."

"Hugely entertaining skim across shiny 80s Britain"

"This adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s novel looks at Thatcherism, the AIDS crisis and class in 80s Britain in satirical fashion"

"Although it deals with the Aids crisis and with class, Alan Hollinghurst’s lofty survey of 80s Britain plays more like a comedy on stage than it does on the page. Partly it’s because the offline, analog, tabloid world of that decade now seems almost quaint"

"Adapter Jack Holden starkly fillets the novel’s three-act structure, from 1983 to 1987."

"... it must be said that, stripped of Hollingshust’s elegantly descriptive prose, that golden tier feels somewhat cartoonish and full of stereotypes here."

"Still, this is a hugely entertaining skim across the shiny surface of 80s Britain, and a return to form for Grandage after a high-profile misfires including My Master Builder and Backstairs Billy."

"A wild, witty ride through Thatcher-era high society"

"Alan Hollinghurst’s classic tale of aesthetic beauty and moral ugliness is elegantly adapted for the stage"

"Director Michael Grandage and writer Jack Holden’s pacy adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s classic gay novel has the dizzying fizz of a champagne-drenched cocktail party."

"Power corrupts, and this story’s beauty-obsessed protagonist is absolutely in thrall to the suited scoundrels who’re running (and ruining) the country."

"Holden’s adaptation fills in those gaps, glossing over the novel’s abrupt leaps through time, and replacing its emotional lacunae with endearing moments of romance"

"Jasper Talbot’s fluent performance brings new agency and confidence to this beefed-up central role."

"Ellie Bamber is captivating and refreshingly uncliched as this upper class rebel"

"Grandage’s deliciously witty production is so good at delineating the subtle class tensions of this world"

"Holden’s take here is subtly moralistic, giving Nick a clear choice between humble true love and the false blandishments of wealth. What it’s missing, perhaps, is time and space to explore his agony"

"It’s hard not to be seduced by this beautiful staging of The Line of Beauty"

"The Almeida’s slick and poised production whirls us back to Thatcher’s Britain"

"It’s already a sell-out success at the Almeida and that demand is rewarded by Michael Grandage’s slick, poised and, yes, beautiful production."

"Hollinghurst conjures the political – the haves and have-nots of Thatcher’s Britain – through the personal."

"[Holden's] adaptation is straightforwardly episodic, its instinct faithful but restrained. Without the interiority the novel brings and the wider context he could add, he’s scratching the surface, both of the characters and the era."

"It’s hard not to be charmed, even seduced, though, by Jasper Talbot’s blank, boyish, preppy interloper"

"... as the Aids crisis takes grim hold, the evening sharpens to an anguished point about belonging, identity and the veneer of tolerance."

"Assisted by nostalgia-stirring pop sounds, here’s another bittersweet evocation of a momentous decade that cast a long shadow. It’s just a shame there’s not a bit more dramatic meat to chew on."

"The Line of Beauty is a classy portrait of gay life in the Thatcher years"

"A stage adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel powerfully evokes time and place"

"Turning 400 pages of The Line’s beautiful sentences into a two-and-a-half-hour stage drama presents a considerable challenge, yet it is one in which adaptor Jack Holden achieves notable success, offering up characters and situations that feel rich and compelling"

"... stylishly and confidently presented in Michael Grandage’s assured production."

"[Charles] Edwards is all entitled affability while the going is good, while Alistair Nwachukwu has a wounded dignity as Leo"

"[Ellie] Bamber is a highwire delight as the gloriously unpredictable and highly strung Cat"

"A powerful and sobering watch."

"Award-winning novel charms in all the right ways on stage"

"Holden’s new stage adaptation is a faithful distillation of that world – elegant, restrained and deeply observant. Rather than reimagining Hollinghurst’s novel, Holden translates it for the stage with precision, capturing its wit, sensuality and quiet melancholy. The result feels less like a radical reinterpretation and more like a refined condensation"

"Talbot captures the character’s knowing awkwardness with a quiet precision... a portrait of a man forever caught in a purgatorial battle between desire and observance."

"[Charles] Edwards truly comes into his own in the play’s slightly patchier second half"

"Grandage’s direction is typically unshowy, favouring restraint over flourish. The production’s strength lies in its clarity: it allows the text to breathe and the performances to lead. The result is a piece that feels elegant and sharply attuned to the nuances of Hollinghurst’s world, even when the pacing falters in a few select moments."

"Hollinghurst’s Gatsby-esque social satire is a class act"

"Jack Holden has elegantly adapted Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker winner about class envy, gay culture and political scandal in 80s Britain"

"How to adapt a novel as big and shimmering as Alan Hollinghurst’s 2004 Booker prize winner?... Jack Holden, whose 2021 play Cruise traversed similar ground, makes a robust go of it here. He arrives at the dark heart of the book while filleting and mixing the order of things so that the timeline of the central three sections is shorter and slicker, but also less intensely lived."

"Michael Grandage brings fantastic directorial polish and pace and the cast are excellent"

"It is all engaging, with elegantly executed social satire. But what a lot of story, and feelings, to fit in."

"... in its portrayals of sex, the play does not quite capture the raw, explicit nature of Hollinghurst’s book. It is somewhat truncated in its love stories too."

"... we do not really enter into these relationships fully. So the devastation of the Aids crisis is felt – but not in the gut. Still, something incendiary is built up by the end"

"The strength of this production lies in its deft parallels with The Great Gatsby"

"This Michael Grandage-directed adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s classic novel of Thatcherite Britain is a hugely impressive piece of storytelling"

"There are no wild directorial flourishes or big awards-bait performances in director Michael Grandage and playwright Jack Holden’s stage adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s seminal novel of the ‘80s. The wheel is at no point reinvented. But, by Thatcher’s ghost, it does a tremendous job of cutting Hollinghurst’s period odyssey into a gripping, flab-free two-and-a-half hours of theatre. It is, above all, a great piece of storytelling."

"The BBC TV adaptation from 2006 really laid on the ‘80s period porn, but it’s a definite strength of Grandage’s production that it eschews this in the name of clarity."

"Keeping things on a more sober keel allows Grandage and Holden to surface on the more philosophical side of the text, the questions it asks about privilege, beauty, queerness and whether beauty itself is a privilege or something purer."

"Talbot is a likeable focal point to the story. But I wonder if he’s a bit too convincing as a man determined to never let on what’s happening inside - there’s something a little too slick and frictionless about his performance to really wow dramatically."

"At the edgier Almeida it feels exquisite, but MOR."

"Chilly elegance"

"Adroit adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker-winning novel"

"Champagne, cocaine and Thatcher bopping to Bronski Beat – this stage version of the 2004 Booker-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst gleams with the gaudy allure of 1980s excess."

"There are sections of Holden’s text, especially in its early scenes, that feel awkwardly expository, and occasionally the quipping dialogue sounds a bit pound-shop Oscar Wilde. I also often found it a struggle to engage fully with a set of people who are so blatantly ghastly. But Grandage’s production has fluidity and a chilly elegance that aligns persuasively with the material’s preoccupation with the deceptive enticement of beauty."

"The tragedy is Nick’s, as he overlooks love in his pursuit of some illusory ideal – and the narrative’s exposure of the fault lines with which British society is still riven remains pertinent. The smooth-running intricacy of the piece and its dislikeable denizens mean we experience it at arm’s length. But it’s unarguably adroit and accomplished."

"High-society soap makes Downton look subtle"

"Sex, drugs and Maggie: Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker winner is given a lumbering and lurid adaptation at the Almeida Theatre"

"It’s not just the music that goes thud, thud, thud. Whether or not you’re a fan of Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker-winning novel... the prose possessed a certain style. Jack Holden’s adaptation, stripped of the languorous, Henry James-ish embellishments, turns into a lumbering string of scenes from a high-society soap."

"... the production is alternately gauche and garish. And as with My Master Builder, Grandage’s recent, misfiring Ibsen update starring Ewan McGregor, it’s undercut by some oddly uneven performances."

"At least the ever-reliable Charles Edwards glides through the role of Gerald Fedden"

"Jasper Talbot captures Nick’s combination of vulnerability and truculence. The sex scenes, though, are less than subtle; so too are the party interludes"

"The dialogue, on the other hand, is closer to the drawing room clichés of a rainy Sunday afternoon at Downton Abbey."