FATHRLAND - PRESS REVIEWS
THE TIMES Sam Marlowe
“Caroline Steinbeis’s production is delicately acted by Jonathan McGuinness and Angela Terence. And Steinbeis approaches the emotive material with a cool intelligence that is offset by a series of increasingly startling and disturbing coups de théâtre.”
THE STAGE Aleks Sierz
“Jonathan McGuinness’s creepy, insincere and dominating father contrasts well with Angela Terence’s girly, scared and puckish daughter and both deliver convincing performances.”
“On a ramshackle set designed by Max Jones, and with a wintry soundscape by Simon Slater, this is a powerful piece of experiential theatre with a heart-stopping climax.”
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/31318/fatherland
SPOONFED 4 Stars - Naima Khan
“It's an intelligent script that splits the play evenly between a man's attempt to have an ordinary relationship with his daughter, and his daughter's frustration at the lack of acknowledgement of what happens…we learn all we need to know about these two characters through their absorbing, disturbing monologues.”
“Caroline Steinbeis' direction, coupled with Simon Slater's sound design, keeps the pace impressively, depicting the eerie stillness of their home and each character's fierce frustration."
http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/naimakhan-6622/fatherland-at-gate-theatre-4637/
BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE Philip Fisher
“Throughout, Miss Steinbeis's stylish and impeccably acted production oozes menace.”
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/fatherland-rev.htm
THE GUARDIAN Lyn Gardner
“It is another ordinary night in for teenage Angela and her dad. He brightly suggests a pizza and DVDs. She kids him, calling him "a loser nerd". But the tension is so tight you could snap it, and this pair skitter around each other like a shy couple on a first date.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/feb/22/fatherland-review
EXEUNT MAGAZINE Tom Wicker
“Inextricably linked with the wolfish desires of men, with illicit sex and violence, she’s been threatened, frightened and vengeful. And here she is again – the bloodied heart of Caroline Steinbeis’ intense production of award-winning writer Tom Holloway’s disturbing new play about a father-daughter relationship gone terribly wrong.”
“…the closing shot of a serene Angela, huddled in her blood-smeared red coat and cradling her father in her arms like a child, is a stark and strange one that will linger with you long after you leave the theatre.”
http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/fatherland/
NEW STATESMAN Anna Winter
“Fatherland is a play of great power, both subtle and shocking.”
“The great merit of the play lies in its evasions and omissions, and its refusal to descend into some hysterical and graphic depiction of a Fritzl-style nightmare. What is portrayed is complex and challenging, as the play moves beyond the boundaries of naturalism.”
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2011/02/love-play-fatherland-subtle
TIME OUT Rachel Halliburton
“Director Caroline Steinbeis negotiates the tricky territory deftly with fast-paced dialogue, and some striking coups de theatre. Actors Angela Terence and Jonathan McGuinness both manage the difficult balance between fondly insulting father-daughter exchanges and the vertiginous emotions below.”
OTHER REVIEWS
www.theatreguidelondon.co.uk/reviews/fatherland11.htm