A View From the Bridge starring Dominic West – Reviews Round-up

"Dominic West is a revelation in this good old-fashioned production"

"This is a gripping revival of a Miller masterpiece – and West can take his place alongside the great past interpreters of the central role"

"West, whose default bankability was further enhanced through playing Prince Charles in The Crown, excels himself at this end of the social spectrum"

"West neither woos nor sabotages our sympathies, allowing us to understand his simple, if blinkered mindset – never reductively incestuous but ducking, at a fundamental level, a truth about a dependency on Catherine that has entered very murky territory."

"Not every moment is as perfect – you always tend to see the joins in the rueful, perspective-framing commentary by the lawyer Alfieri (Martin Marquez). But this is a robust, gripping account of a Miller masterpiece – and the perhaps underrated West, 54, can take his place alongside the great past interpreters of the role."

"Dominic West leads 50s drama into the present"

"Arthur Miller’s story of family, masculinity and immigrant struggles could seem dated but a brilliant cast bring out uncomfortably modern resonances"

"Directed by Lindsay Posner with a spare, untampered purity, the production leans into its past world. It wavers for a while but comes out winning, mostly due to the terrific ensemble of actors, led by Dominic West, who breathe new life into these characters."

"... West ensures humanity so that Eddie’s growling insistence “I want my respect” and the final act of violence feel all the more tragic."

"Despite the play’s period setting, it chimes, depressingly, with rightwing narratives of today. Every actor shines as brightly as West. There is an insightful performance from Kate Fleetwood as Eddie’s wife, Beatrice, who feels the house’s Freudian buzz, and Towle is just as compelling as Catherine, full of girlish exuberance but slowly becoming her own woman."

"Dominic West gives a superb performance in A View from the Bridge "

"The actor creates a tragic study in fragile masculinity in Arthur Miller’s classic drama at the London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket"

"The tension between what is and what could have been drives the play and is made visible at every beat in Lindsay Posner’s beautifully judged, crystal-clear new production."

"It’s an old-fashioned production in many respects, plainly staged in period costumes on Peter McKintosh’s flexible wooden set. But Posner wisely trusts Miller and the cast to scope out the psychological depths of the characters. And while his staging remains pinned, resolutely, in 1950s Brooklyn, this story of immigrants, the desperate conditions that drive them and the suspicions that greet their arrival, feels all too timely."

"It’s not a revelatory staging, as was Ivo van Hove’s groundbreaking production a decade ago, and it does fall foul of the melodramatic creakiness of some of the plot twists. But few playwrights can match Miller’s ability to combine astute political analysis with poignant humanity and, flaws and all, this richly acted production still hits home."

"Dominic West is on the cusp of greatness — can he make it?"

"The Crown actor flexes some serious stage-acting muscle in A View from the Bridge"

"Oh boy, that Dominic West can act."

"If Lindsay Posner’s production were a Christmas dinner, it would be one with tasty trimmings but an overcooked bird. West’s glowering resentment, seething rage or tearful sense of alienation as Eddie is always a feat of stage-acting muscle. Yet I wished he would act less vigorously all the time."

"West, affecting a brawling Brooklyn manner, has Eddie mask middle-aged impotence with noise. Fine. Yet this Eddie tussles with others but not himself. There’s no internal battle. It’s laid out on a plate. Perhaps it doesn’t help that this production, first seen at the Ustinov in Bath, comes barely a decade after Ivo van Hove’s barefoot masterpiece of a revival"

"Arthur Miller’s monumental tragedy doesn’t really suit this light, witty take starring Dominic West"

"To be fair to veteran director Lindsay Posner, he’s taken almost the exact opposite tack to Van Hove. Where the Belgian’s production was serious, stylised and dreamlike, Posner’s is naturalist, earthy and often surprisingly funny."

"Dominic West is certainly disarmingly cuddly as Red Hook longshoreman Eddie Carbone. He’s almost like a sitcom patriarch, with his inch thick Brooklyn accent, pally persona and air of befuddlement at a changing world."

"But ‘A View from the Bridge’ is a tragedy, and I don’t think Posner’s production really manages to square its almost jaunty early tone with that fact."

"‘What if Eddie Carbone was actually just some regular guy?’ is a perfectly legitimate question to ask. And West asks it well. But I don’t think Arthur Miller has an answer for it, and Posner’s production feels smaller as a result, turning Miller’s great work into something decidedly humdrum."

"Dominic West is terrific as Arthur Miller’s doomed docker"

"The dramatic strangeness was rendered viscerally in Ivo van Hove’s peeled-back slab-of-meat Young Vic production nine years ago. It is apparent even in Lindsay Posner’s more stolid production."

"The evening is vivid where it most matters. In the central performances. Dominic West is a terrific Eddie, not least because – yes, he is the same actor who became Prince Charles in The Crown – he makes you believe he has put a day in on the docks."

"It struck me for the first time how radically all the characters are displaced, psychologically or physically; how they look with wonder or horror on those who live differently."

"Dominic West impresses as the doomed hero"

"The Wire star gives Arthur Miller’s words heft in Lindsay Posner’s naturalistic production, but this play is beginning to creak"

"It’s one of those productions where a compelling central performance, imbued with raw emotion, takes your mind off the flaws in the play itself."

"I wish I’d seen Lindsay Posner’s production in its original home, the tiny Ustinov Studio at Bath’s Theatre Royal. There, no doubt, we would have been more aware of the walls closing in on Eddie as his protectiveness toward his wife’s teenage niece Catherine (spiritedly played by Nia Towle) curdles into obsession. In the expansive space of the Haymarket, there’s more of a flavour of a conventional well-made play."

"... Kate Fleetwood is immensely persuasive as Eddie’s beleaguered wife, Beatrice. Her expression is as careworn as her wardrobe. Pierro Niel-Mee and It’s a Sin’s Callum Scott Howells win our sympathy in the admittedly limited roles of Marco and Rodolpho"

"Dominic West’s spark is missing"

"Theatre Royal Haymarket's retelling leaves the audience shaken but not moved"

"With its pertinent themes around prejudice and betrayal, and the struggle of the illegal immigrant, Arthur Miller’s 1955 tragic masterpiece feels thoroughly relevant. Director Lindsay Posner’s production doesn’t hammer this point home, however, and instead lets the text speak for itself in a classic retelling that lacks a little bite."

"To his credit, Niel-Mee holds his own as Marco, the strong, thoughtful brother, opposite the tornado that is Scott Howells. The It’s A Sin star’s Rodolpho is decidedly camp, constantly pulling playful, cartoonish facial expressions reminiscent of his recent portrayal of the Emcee in Cabaret."

"Eddie’s tragic, violent end, is undeniably devastating, but West’s performance is missing the spark needed for us to root for him. Fleetwood, comparatively, taps further into the raw human emotion at Beatrice’s core, yet her New York accent is by far the weaker of the pair, and oscillates dramatically within monologues."

"Dominic West delivers in an old-fashioned revival"

"This solid take on the classic Arthur Miller play has contemporary resonance though the production feels staid"

"The part of Eddie, whose suppressed, illicit passion for his niece presages his downfall, requires rough charm, burly physicality and – in the histrionic final scenes – a capacity for anguished roaring. In his first stage role in nine years, the star of The Wire and The Crown absolutely delivers all of the above. He has fine support from Kate Fleetwood as Eddie’s pinched wife Beatrice, Nia Towle as the disconcerted object of his affection, and It’s a Sin’s Callum Scott Howells as the young Sicilian who steals her away."

"Fleetwood is terrific, careworn and exhausted, her face visibly hardening as she realises the worst"

"The West End may have got decidedly more nimble and experimental recently, but there’s still a place for solid, star-led revivals of classics. And that’s precisely what we’ve got here."

"Dominic West pours strain into the part"

"Revival of Arthur Miller’s classic lacks danger, but still feels timely"

"It is one of the richest roles in Miller’s body of work, packed with internal conflict. If it’s done well, any production can be a near-success. Luckily, Posner has Dominic West, known for his roles in The Crown and The Wire. West pours strain and contradiction into the part."

"He doesn’t quite have the fear factor and his scenes with his wife, Beatrice (Kate Fleetwood) feel unbalanced. However, there’s something chillingly timely about Miller’s classic, with the question of who gets the right to citizenship hanging in the air."

"Even in safe and somewhat unimaginative hands, Miller’s great works still speak to today."