When Winston Went to War with the Wireless
| When Winston Went to War with the Wireless | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Jack Thorne |
| Date premiered | 13 June 2023 |
| Place premiered | Donmar Warehouse London |
| Original language | English |
| Setting | 1926, London |
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless is a play by Jack Thorne about the BBC during the 1926 United Kingdom general strike.
Production history
[edit]The play made its world premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London on 13 June 2023, following previews from 2 June, running until 29 July, directed by Katy Rudd.[1][2]
Cast and characters
[edit]| Character | London (2023) |
|---|---|
| Isabel Sheilds | Kitty Archer |
| John Reith | Stephen Campbell Moore |
| Archbishop of Canterbury/J.C.C. Davidson | Ravin J Ganatra |
| Stanley Baldwin | Haydn Gwynne |
| Muriel Reith | Mariam Haque |
| Ernest Bevin | Kevin McMonagle |
| Charlie Bowser/Engineer | Luke Newberry |
| Musician/Speaker of the house | Seb Philpott |
| Arthur Pugh/Musician | Elliott Rennie |
| Clemmie Churchill/Amelia Johnson | Laura Rogers |
| Peter Eckersley | Shubham Saraf |
| Winston Churchill | Adrian Scarborough |
Reception
[edit]The Guardian's Arifa Akbar gave the play three stars out of five, observing that "the story comes in fast, evocative scenes with dialogue delivering lots of information, entertainingly, but not with enough probing" and praised Rudd's direction while stating that "ultimately, we are not sure what the play is saying."[1]
Writing for Time Out, Andrzej Lukowski also awarded the play three stars of five, claiming that it "never quite manages to live up to its intriguing concept" and calling it "an entertaining but flawed exercise in cakeism."[3]
Sarah Crompton of WhatsOnStage.com gave the play four stars out of five, describing it as a "fleet and fluid production" and highlighting the performances of Campbell-Moore, Scarborough and Archer.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Akbar, Arifa (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War With the Wireless review – radio is the star of BBC crisis drama". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ Curtis, Nick (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War With the Wireless at the Donmar Warehouse". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ Lukowski, Andrzej (16 June 2023). "When Winston went to War with the Wireless". Time Out. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ Crompton, Sarah (14 June 2023). "When Winston Went to War with the Wireless – review". WhatsOnStage.com. Retrieved 1 August 2023.