Summer and Smoke IS THE Play To Watch This Winter Season

A Tennessee Williams masterpiece is brought into the limelight once again in the Almeida's West End transfer of Summer and Smoke. Full to the brim with beauty and pain, comedy and heart-ache, this revival is one not to be missed.

A smoky haze fills the Duke of York's theatre as a purplish light rises upon a semicircle of pianos. With an actor on each, this production begins with a burst of music, forcing every eye and ear in the audience to focus on the figures emerging from the walls. Patsy Ferran takes centre stage as Alma, a pristinely chaste vicar's daughter who cuts a lonely figure amongst the mist, signalling the theme for one of the best plays I've ever seen.

Forget your Romeos and Juliets for it is Alma and John's tragic romance that you should be obsessing over. Set in Glorious Hill, Mississippi, Summer and Smoke tells the story of a highly strung vicar's daughter and her obsession with a reckless and fun-loving doctor. Growing up alongside each other, Alma resists the pull of John's physical urges as she pursues spiritual and intellectual enlightenment. When the time comes for Alma to listen to her heart, John's passion may now be as certain as a whiff of smoke.

In a production that can only be described as 'stunning' director, Rebecca Frecknall has created a work of art in this part comic, part tragic love story. From the atmospheric stage to the performances, Summer and Smoke entices and thrills the audience with some of the most sexual tension I've ever experienced.

The true jewel in this crown is Patsy Ferran as Alma as she truly encapsulates the nervousness and self-restricting persona of a period vicar's daughter. From her nervous ticks to her bursts of passion Ferran bridges the gap between hilarious and desperate perfectly. Combined with Matthew Needham's confident and forthright John, the pair is perfectly matched. The tension between this duo is probably some of the most realistic on the West End stage at the moment. As the pair dance between division and intimacy, you can feel the will of the audience yearning for them to just realise that they want each other.

A truly mesmerising production, Summer and Smoke is THE play to catch this winter season, and if it doesn't win some sort of award, I will eat my hat!

View our show pages for more information about Summer and Smoke, Duke of Yorks Theatre.