Lyonesse Reviews

"Full of humour, wit and fragments of poetry"

"Endearing performances from Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James provide a warm heart to this wistful comedy-drama"

"Themes of isolation, inspiration and women’s emancipation from stifling social expectations run through this slow-moving but lovingly rendered character sketch from playwright Penelope Skinner."

"Skinner’s sharply observed writing is full of humour, wit and fragments of poetry. Director Ian Rickson never rushes the sprawling, stately scenes, allowing plenty of time for the endearingly flawed characters to grow on us, and for doubts to fester"

"Scott Thomas and James display some extraordinary chemistry here, capturing the warmth and complexity of a friendship between women of different generations and dissimilar backgrounds. They wring every possible laugh from Skinner’s humorous script without losing sight of the poignant emotions underpinning their characters’ banter."

"If the symbolism of caged songbirds feels heavy-handed, it is nonetheless well suited to the offbeat, melancholy tone of this thoughtful exploration of the fragility and resilience of hope."

"Sunset Boulevard meets Ab Fab set in Cornwall... with Lily James and Kristin Scott Thomas serving up the stardust"

"But while both actresses sprinkle stardust liberally across Skinner's play, I found the piece itself a curiously laboured and lacklustre affair."

"Catching the eye constantly, like a 24-carat diamond, Ms James is a perfect fit as a thirtysomething yummy mummy trying to square her career with post-natal depression."

"First seen in dressing gown, swim-cap, goggles and wellies, Ms Scott Thomas cuts a flamboyantly eccentric figure, whose histrionic gestures make her look like she's performing tai chi on ice. Comedies, however, cannot live by histrionics alone. At a bottom-numbing three hours, Ian Rickson's production needs more gags – and much more mayhem."

"But while the cast and creatives have fun, Skinner's overwrought and underpowered play is simply left bobbing in their stylish wake, darling."

"Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James do their best in another ‘all men are bad’ morality play"

"The stars acquit themselves well in Penelope Skinner's new drama, but its demonising of the entire male sex gives it the whiff of a lecture"

"We were told this starry new play by Penelope Skinner... was going to be about MeToo, but it turns out to be about coercive control. Disappointingly for such a powerful subject, the piece is largely schematic and morally obvious, but leavened by flashes of inspiration, in the main provided by a joyfully eccentric turn from Kristin Scott Thomas."

"That said, a piece supposedly about MeToo also suggested we’d get a tract on victimhood, which mercifully we do not. This is in large part thanks to strong performances from the leads, and director Ian Rickson’s characteristically subtle touch, played out against a gorgeously detailed set from designer Georgia Lowe."

"James, not a natural stage actress, gives one of her best performances here, deeply felt and relatable. Scott Thomas revels in the wacky Elaine"

"I’m a little surprised that Rickson, one of our very greatest directors, took it on."

"Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James fired up in a frustrating play"

"It’s funny, bold, and engrossing, featuring a raft of brilliant performances, most notably from Kristin Scott Thomas as the eccentric Elaine whose desire to tell her story shifts the entire narrative into gear. Yet it’s also frustrating, ending up – despite some twists and turns along the way – much more conventional and obvious than it promises."

"The whole thing is a bit baggy and broad, moving suddenly in different directions, but it’s bound together by Ian Rickson’s sensitive, detailed direction. Its themes are riveting, and although the final destination isn’t entirely satisfying, it’s hard not to enjoy the journey especially in the company of so strong a cast."

"Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James lead a flimsy yet fascinating creation"

"A fire-starting crotch is just one of the big tonal swings in this tricksy, incisive drama by playwright Penelope Skinner"

"We’ve mostly banished the casual sexism of the Noughties, but are women actually in control of their own narratives? Absolutely not, argues Penelope Skinner’s cynical, fascinating, flawed new play, one that’s soaked in pessimism and salty Cornish sea air."

"Skinner’s writing is incisive and startlingly funny as she skilfully outlines the horrors underpinning Kate’s seemingly perfect life."

"Rickson’s unfussy production is full of small joys... Even so, Skinner’s unlikely blend of comedy, heavy visual metaphor, and bleakness doesn’t quite synthesise into a coherent whole. The first act of Lyonesse is all biting satire and surreal comedy. The weaker second act slumps into tragedy – there’s a Chekhovian gloom to its ending, without the deft pacing that would make it bite."

"Lily James and Kristin Scott Thomas star in this funny but messy subversion of empowering romcoms"

"‘Lyonesse’ doesn’t necessarily feel like a parody or a pastiche of a romcom so much as it fully embraces the medium for a long time. James turns in a fine comic performance as the terminally awkward Kate. Scott Thomas is also great fun as Elaine, who presents her story to Kate as a sort of OTT but surprisingly moving performance piece. And Sara Powell adds a note of sobriety as Chris, a lesbian poet – and Elaine’s best friend – who Kate finds herself drawn to."

"‘Lyonesse’ feels trapped between a crowd-pleasing, celebrity-tastic comedy with feminist undertones and a much bleaker answer to that. Both sections are effective in their way, but as a whole it’s disjointed. Much of it comes down to Kate as a character."

"Given the play makes a specific point of critiquing male directors telling female stories, it’s a bit weird that it’s directed by a man without even a knowing wink to the audience. But Rickson does a good job: he’s not really known for the giggles, but it’s easy to forget how funny ‘Jerusalem’ was, and if he can’t solve ‘Lyonesse’, he can at least make the comedy sing."

"Kristin Scott Thomas charms in messy #MeToo tale"

"Starry cast including Lily James and Doon Mackichan are tossed around in a plot that never gets hold of its many concerns"

"Lyonesse has all the makings of a powerful #MeToo play. In fact, it has the makings of more than one #MeToo play. There are multitudes packed into Penelope Skinner’s script about the horrors women face, from the juggle of work and home life in the face of a covertly bullying husband to coercive control and the appropriation of women’s stories."

"Directed by Ian Rickson, there are some charged scenes, entertaining social satire and some fine acting from its starry cast, Scott Thomas leading the way with her charming performance as the eccentric Elaine. But too much remains unexplored in a schematic second act that veers off in a different direction and flattens out the slightly surreal, eerie edges of the first act."

"We see how patriarchy makes these women its unconscious agents. For a play that puts women at its centre – and high-achieving ones at that – it ends with unremitting bleakness. Bullying men still reign..."

"New Lily James play is the most barking thing I’ve seen in a long time"

"Watching this starry West End production is akin to tumbling down a never-ending rabbit hole of bewilderment"

"It is vanishingly rare for a new play to open directly in the West End, without a prior try-out in the safety net of the subsidised sector. Yet star casting will always work its magic, regardless of the quality of the drama, which explains the arrival of the inexcusably poor Lyonesse. The tasty pairing of Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James can do nothing to salvage it."

"I spent the interminable-seeming first half struggling to believe that writer Penelope Skinner intends us to take any of this even halfway seriously – and then the even-longer-seeming second wondering precisely when we would be put out of our misery."

"Elaine, it is clear, is on the exciting side of eccentric and it is apparent that Scott Thomas is relishing the opportunity to let loose with such a colourful character after years of playing stoically repressed Brits. She offers her story to Kate in the form of a fully rehearsed one-woman show – why? – and off we go in Ian Rickson’s dreary production, on and on and round and round, with barely a word of the script ringing true."

"... her new play skitters all over the place, stunning accomplished actors. A satirical scene leaves astute Doon Mackichan looking poleaxed by her character’s obviousness"

"... Kristin Scott Thomas – gumboots, fur coat and woolly hat – flings herself against the bars of a limited role in an attempt to appear free-spirited. Lily James fares better as a desperate young writer-mother (much scrabbling in her shoulder bag), perhaps because she is actually meant to seem ill at ease."

"Ian Rickson, habitually assured and subtle, has for once misfired. Thomas Hardy described coming back from Lyonesse with magic in his eyes. If only."

"Stars can’t save this script from itself"

"Very occasionally, a play comes along that is so weirdly inept that you don’t quite know how to respond. If you were to stumble across Penelope Skinner’s new drama in a thinly populated corner of the Edinburgh Fringe, you would put it down as an undergrad experiment. To find it in the West End, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James in the lead roles, is bizarre."

"After nearly three hours of risible dialogue, you are left wondering how the principals ever got involved. Ian Rickson is credited as the director, but the whole thing putters along seemingly at random."

"Scott Thomas exhibits no gift for comic timing, but simply raises her voice and hopes for the best. The long monologue where her character stands at a mike and recounts her tale is excruciating."

"Why is the play called Lyonesse? It is, it seems, a self-indulgent reference to a mythical Cornish kingdom that disappeared under the sea in a single night. If only this utter embarrassment of a production could meet the same fate."

"Why did Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James sign up for this?"

"This new work by Penelope Skinner is an assemblage of half-baked ideas and lazy conceits"

"Whatever drew Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James to Penelope Skinner’s shambling, implausible exploration of the raw deal women get utterly fails to materialise on stage. The characters are underdeveloped, the narrative heavy with exposition and the scenario riffs aimlessly on Sunset Boulevard (down the road, much better) and Great Expectations."

"There are some funny and some daring moments in Ian Rickson’s production, and we get to see KST go OTT as a scenery-chewing former actress, Elaine Dailey... Scott Thomas is one of our finest dramatic stage stars but – how to put this? – there’s very little difference between someone pretending to be a hammy performer and an actual hammy performer."

"James fares slightly better as Kate Trellis, the exec from an all-female production company Lilith, who is charged with securing Elaine’s story. Her performance is nuanced though the character is a loosely-tied bundle of issues."

"Arguably, Skinner is aiming for a sort of absurdism, rejecting credibility and consistency as potential traps, like marriage or the pressure to reproduce... But mostly this seems like an assemblage of half-baked ideas and lazy conceits."