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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Tim Bano

Alterations at the National Theatre review: 'a finely tailored play'

the National Theatre Marc Brenner Lynette Linton Cherrelle Skeete
Arinzé Kene (Walker Holt) in Alterations at the National Theatre. - (Marc Brenner)

One of the weird things about theatre is that most plays have an initial run, then they’re never seen again. It’s an art form with a short memory. Watching this revival of Alterations by Michael Abbensetts, rediscovered as part of the Black Plays Archive at the National Theatre, you do wonder how many other great pieces of writing are gathering dust somewhere.

Even though it’s 47 years old, it couldn’t be less dusty, certainly not the way director Lynette Linton and additional writer Trish Cooke treat it. Colour, music, motion, loads of laughter: the whole thing feels completely alive from its first moment.

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