Review: The Vertical Hour @VERTICALHOURLDN Park Theatre

A profound play by David Hare featuring a flawless performance from Thusitha Jayasundera – if she had a simpler stage name she’d be a big star. Peter Davidson is as excellent as one would expect with Finlay Roberston playing his son – a good performance but a less convincing character than the other two. The play opens and closes with Thusitha Jayasundera’s American politics lecturer holding tutorials with two students. The students’ essays present the simplistic pro- and anti-war arguments, sandwiching the main play where her arguments with Peter Davidson’s character offer more nuanced viewpoints. The relevance of the mess that Bush and Blair created to the current situation with ISIS has dominated many reviews but the play is also about relationships, teaching, war correspondence, guilt and personal responsibility. I thought I’d missed this but they added an extra performance yesterday. It’s justifiably almost sold out but if you can find a ticket then do so.

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