The Real Thing 2024

Opened: August 28, 2024
Closing: October 26, 2024

The Real Thing - West End History , Info & More

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The Old Vic

103 The Cut London

‘There are no commitments, only bargains.’

Annie is an actress, Henry is a playwright, and fiction is the backdrop to life. Hardly a recipe for a faithful marriage, especially when it started as an affair.

But does it matter how it began if what they have is the real thing?

Diving through layers of play and performance, reality and deceit, The Real Thing is Tom Stoppard’s kaleidoscopic comedy of love, infidelity and the stories we tell. Starring James McArdle (Mare of Easttown, The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Bel Powley (A Small Light, The Morning Show), and directed by Max Webster (Macbeth, Life of Pi).

__Assisted Performances:__

Audio Described, 11 Oct, 7.30pm (Touch Tour, 5.30pm)

Relaxed, (audio described, captioned and BSL interpreted) 12 Oct, 2.30pm

Captioned, 14 Oct, 7.30pm

BSL Interpreted, 17 Oct, 7.30pm

The Real Thing - - West End Cast

James McArdle

Bel Powley

Oliver Johnstone

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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR The Real Thing

The Real Thing review – Tom Stoppard’s gem still shines

8 / 10

Artfully directed by Max Webster, with wonderful long-shadowed lighting by Richard Howell and a poppy soundtrack, the drama’s artifice is playfully exposed, maybe even sent up, with dancing stagehands bringing choreographed comedy and a light meta touch.

Review: THE REAL THING, The Old Vic

4 / 10

Symposiums (or symposia, as the Pedants’ Pedant, Henry, would no doubt instantly inform me from beneath his half-hearted mullet) are the places to explore ideas about writing. Stages should be reserved for characters we believe in, in whom we can invest hopes and fears, maybe even grow to like - after all, we’re lumped together for two and a half hours, so let’s get along hey? Such thoughts filled my head, as the play I witnessed seemed barely worthy of praise, never mind the avalanche of plaudits that have come its way since its premiere 42 years ago and consequent to its many revivals since. Had I missed something? In pooh-poohing the assessments of so many fine judges, was I just being a bear of very little brain? Or had this soapy tale (albeit with longer words, but almost as much shouting) merely outlived its utility? Probably a bit of all three.

The Real Thing History

Other Productions of The Real Thing

1984	Broadway	Broadway
2000	Broadway	Broadway Revival Broadway
2010	West End	Old Vic Production West End
2014	Broadway	Roundabout Theatre Production Broadway
	West End	West End

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