Review: Against, Almeida Theatre

For

Against

• Amanda Hale being excellent in an all-too-rare excursion to the stage
• Ben Whishaw being Ben Whishaw in his Whishawy way, even if it’s not quite enough to enliven the play
• Whishaw briefly in his pants, if you like that sort of thing
• An intelligently sparse design from ULTZ
• Did I mention Amanda Hale? She comes close to making it all worthwhile

• The running time
• The comparative lack of depth to Christopher Shinn’s writing which in no way justifies the above
• The range of issues which touched upon but not interrogated despite the above
• The structure of the play which exacerbates the above
• The inherent misogyny in the writing which only allows men to talk about these issues, however unsatisfactorily
• The cheap potshots at political correctness, seemingly designed for the Cavendishes and Purves of this world
• Did I mention the running time?