Britannicus - Lyric Hammersmith

Long booked for this - somewhat randomly. The Lyric's excellent season package combined with early booking dropped the price for this (and Closer later in the year) to sub £7 for our usual seats in Row C or D. At that price and given how much we generally enjoy visits to Lyric, was a no brainer.

I have booked this. It is a very rare chance to see a UK production of this Racine play which is quite frequently performed in France. I think the last UK production was probably at the Almeida in 1999 with Diana Rigg.

Yes: very mixed bag. The Jonathan Kent version in 1998 was a lot sexier and more compelling but this less starry version has its moments, and the play itself is an intriguing rarity.

A friend friend I went yesterday afternoon prior to seeing Abba in the evening ... we both thought it was great. The guardian **** review is spot on in my book

There is a lot to admire here. Firstly that they staged this play at all. There's not many theatres with any commitment at all to the pre-1800 non-Shakespeare repertoire let alone a European classic - in this case one that is frequently performed in France but is very rarely staged in UK.

Secondly I approve of the fact they didn't commission a modish new version but instead used an existing good version by Timberlake Wertenbaker from 2011. The version is perhaps overly demotic and of course it isn't in rhyming verse so that aspect of the French original is totally lost, but I'm not sure there are any good verse versions they could have used - there are several verse versions of Phedre including at least one rhyming version by Tony Harrison that I'd like to see.

Beyond that it is a decent production of a difficult play. It's maybe not ideal for a general audience but that's no reason not to do it. They had two last-minute replacements in with book in hand - one of those, Ned Costello, playing the leading role of Nero was the best thing in it.

I've just seen it- I was a little bored in the first 30 minutes or so, but it became more interesting in the second half. The acting was very good, I was impressed by Ned Costello who, despite carrying the script, gave an excellent performance. Considering that the story is more about Nero and Agrippina than it is about Britannicus, it is no small task to get up and replace the main actor. Well done to him.

The chairs. Right. That was very old fashioned. In the 1980s there were lots of fringe productions that involved the actors ritually rearranging chairs.

Saw this on Friday and had two understudies as Nero and Burrhus (played by a man!) I can't tell you the names of the actors but I thought Nero was brilliant! The production as a whole however wasn't the most engaging and could've benefitted from an interval. Nathaniel Curtis was clearly a draw for this but I think was overshadowed by Nero and made me question the title of the play. The violinist was lovely though and some of the music played added some ambience to the piece which in turn invoked a new texture to the production, making it a bit more interesting. Otherwise, I think the reviews for this have been pretty fair.

I was there on Friday as well. Not sure about you, but the heat in the theatre made it difficult for me to focus on this.

Definitely could have done with an interval, just for a comfort break more than anything else!

I mostly enjoyed this. I only realised on seeing cast promos going in that Nero was played by William Robinson who was *excellent* in Bacon at Finborough recently. He was also very good in this and so that helped. Hugely warm, surprisingly full, more people than I have seen in the Lyric in a while which is nice.