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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Nick Curtis

Bird Grove at Hampstead Theatre review: Elizabeth Dulau is the only saving grace here

Elizabeth Dulau Hampstead theatre Mary Ann Robert Evans George Eliot Owen Teale Johan Persson
Elizabeth Dulau (Mary Ann Evans) and Owen Teale (Robert Evans) in Bird Grove - (Johan Persson)

Rising star Elizabeth Dulau is the saving grace in this ponderous play about the early adult life of Mary Ann Evans, the prodigy who became novelist George Eliot. The actress, best known for the Star Wars spinoff Andor, brings poise and presence to the role of a young woman feeling her way into her talent and power, in a world rigged against her gender.

She has pleasing chemistry with the wearily leonine Owen Teale as Mary Ann’s father Robert. And a good job too, as Anna Ledwich’s production keeps us in their company for almost three hours, and it’s 70 minutes before anything significant happens.

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