’Ello Blighty! A London Spring Theater Tour

Catherine Ashmore

Anthony Calf and Jeremy Irons in Never So Good

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More About

• Harold Macmillan
• Roy Williams
• Simon Russell Beale
• Theatrical Plays
• Theater

As the play winds on, some of Brenton’s political sympathies do emerge. He draws parallels between the Suez canal and our contemporary conflict, as when one character asks, “Victory is all very well, but what do we do afterwards?” But mostly Brenton contents himself with writing a straightforward, astute biographical play, full of historical figures and bon mots. “In politics,” Macmillan says, “one learns to play the tart.” But Brenton—a heretic with apparently a heart of gold—offers a sweet portrait. I may still reserve a special fondness for the acerbity of some of his earlier works—Epsom Downs, Pravda—but “never so good” well describes Brenton’s latest.