Five star reviews for A Very Expensive Poison
Kitty, September 6th, 2019Lucy Prebble's world premiere is a 'masterfully messy' triumph
After winning over our own reviewer, A Very Expensive Poison, the newest work from Lucy Prebble (Enron) has proved to be another hit for the playwright. Telling the story of the audacious poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko through a blazing fusion of drama, song, vaudeville and puppetry, The Stage led the way proclaiming it "Masterfully messy and utterly unique".
Elsewhere What'sOnStage agreed, calling it "bonkers and always surprising, but what is deeply impressive about Prebble's writing is that it never loses its complexity and its sinewy combination of humour and emotion."
A Very Expensive Poison is at the Old Vic until October 5th
The Death of Alexander Litvinenko
A gripping story with elements right out of a James Bond film by way of a drawing-room farce, Litvinenko's death shocked the world as it displayed the sheer brazen-faced hubris of Russia and their perceived threats. After dosing a cup of tea at a swanky hotel with deadly radioactive poison Polonium -210, the two murderers Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun left their victim in a lead-lined coffin whilst all but escaping justice. Outrageous and indicative of the power of fear and political opposition, Prebble has chosen a subject ripe for the stage, and one that could not be more timely.
