Gina McKee in The Forest
(Picture: Richard Davenport)Forget Wordle: London’s thorniest puzzle is on the Hampstead stage. The latest play from beady French author Florian Zeller is a conundrum of a thriller involving infidelity and death, in which scenes recur, but with narrative variations or with different characters. It’s quite a coup for this north London theatre to score the world premiere, though it’s not Zeller’s finest work.
Jonathan Kent’s briskly efficient production is decently acted for the most part by a starry cast including Toby Stephens, Gina McKee and Paul McGann. But for all its formal experimentation and mental provocations, the play feels bourgeois and old-fashioned, particularly in its gender politics: men are active participants, women largely stooges.
