Speaking in Tongues

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Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre in London previewed 18 September 2009, opened 28 September 2009, closed 12 December 2009.

Andrew Bovell's play Speaking in Tongues in London starring John Simm, Ian Hart, Lucy Cohu and Kerry Fox.

"A wonder of intricacy" The Financial Times

Relationships in crisis. A missing person. An intricate puzzle. Speaking In Tongues is a powerful study of infidelity and interwoven lives - where the seemingly random confessions of a group of strangers are pieced together by a detective investigating the disappearance of a leading psychiatrist.

"A fine ensemble production" The Daily Mail

Speaking In Tongues is a highly charged thriller written by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell, recent winner of 2 Australian Writers' Guild Awards and whose production of When The Rain Stops Falling had a hugely successful run earlier this year at the Almeida Theatre. Bovell's previous work also includes co-writing Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom. Andrew Bovell's play Speaking In Tongues was adapted into the film Lantana.

"I was hooked throughout" The Daily Telegraph

"As the plot thickens - interweaving nine lives - it becomes a quietly tense thriller. Speaking in Tongues mourns marital unhappiness and circles around a woman's grim death in the woods. Having only four actors, all doubling, enhances the sense of slippery personalities, and Toby Frow is definitely a young director to watch." The Independent on Sunday

"Riveting" The Times

"Andrew Bovell's themes are betrayal, trust, love and the loneliness of marriage. But ultimately his insights are less compelling than the intricate, intriguing structure of the piece... It's a bit too clever by half, but at least the actors get a chance to show off, with four playing nine parts... The single flaw in Toby Frow's slick production is that it grips and impresses on an imaginative level rather than an emotional one, but the grip is so tight you can't resist it." The Mail on Sunday

"At the Duke of York's, the Australian playwright Andrew Bovell's four-hander Speaking in Tongues sees a fine cast and Toby Frow's snappy direction wrangling with a play that is, I'm afraid, a stone dud... Speaking in Tongues - although often witty - doesn't get further than a sort of sterile cleverness. It forces symmetries and connections, but there's no point in telling us How It Is Between Men and Women if the audience doesn't believe these are real men and women." The Sunday Times

"'We don't talk anymore,' a woman tells her husband - or rather his answering machine - as if she were breaking news: 'We used to have such deep conversations.' It's hard to imagine those depths in Andrew Bowell's deft but mechanical play. Toby Frow's production of Speaking in Tongues glides around on thick ice... An elegant cat's cradle of betrayal and suspicion is created, but it's a pattern which has no inner propulsion." The Observer

Speaking in Tongues in London at the Duke of York's Theatre previews from 18 September 2009, opens on 28 September 2009 and closes on 12 December 2009.