On LoveLondonLoveCulture, Emma Clarendon rounds up the reviews for the world premiere James Graham’s latest political drama, Best of Enemies, now running at the Young Vic Theatre until 22 January 2022.
‘A fine slice of time travel with an eye on contemporary political malaise’: BEST OF ENEMIES – Young Vic Theatre
James Graham’s latest history play has an eye on the present but a messy staging.
‘A political fairy tale but one worth reading to your kids’: BEST OF ENEMIES – Young Vic Theatre
James Graham finds an analogue for today’s culture war in 1968 USA care of Gore Vidal and William F Buckley.
‘An entertaining, instructive, questioning, honest play’: BEST OF ENEMIES – Young Vic Theatre ★★★★
James Graham’s mission might seem unfashionable: trawling 20th-century history and public culture, looking not for villains and heroes but for the nuances of human behaviour.
‘James Graham asks interesting questions about public posturing versus private belief’: BEST OF ENEMIES – Young Vic Theatre
James Graham’s new play Best of Enemies takes us back to the 1960s, demonstrating that the roots of our division partially lay in the creation of televised intellectual debating.
Are black and Asian actors really losing out on Shakespeare?
Of course I want to see lots of excellent black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) actors cast in lead roles. No thinking theatre lover wouldn’t. The best and most suitable actors for every part, please. I am, however, disturbed by the distorted way in which last week’s report led by Jami Rogers for the University of Warwick and based on the Black and Asian Shakespeare Performance Database has been spun.