Rockets and Blue Lights
Rockets and Blue Lights
95%
95%
(1 Rating)
Positive
100%
Mixed
0%
Negative
0%
Members say
Absorbing, Time-hopping, Emotional, Clever, Great effects

A political exploration of the lives of London locals, moving between 1840 and modern day.

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Critic Reviews (9)

The Independent (UK)
September 3rd, 2021

Pinnock’s play maintains that the chief value of art lies in its capacity to bear witness. It is brought to life ... in a production of huge resourcefulness and chutzpah by Miranda Cromwell.
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The Stage (UK)
September 3rd, 2021

The play is a sprawling piece of work, and the pacing is oddly modulated, with a first half that takes its time setting up its chess pieces, and a second that lands only some of its gut-punches. Much of the play feels overly mannered.
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London Theatre
September 3rd, 2021

This is a play that deserves to be revisited and reimagined frequently. [The] staging feels a bit too grounded and literal for Pinnock’s script, which seems to want to float in greater surrealism and abstraction [more] than it is allowed to.
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Time Out London
September 8th, 2021

‘Rockets and Blue Lights’ is illuminated by dazzling flashes of brilliance. But ... I could never quite grasp the full shape of what Pinnock and Crowell were creating.
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The London Evening Standard
September 3rd, 2021

The script is sometimes let down by casual plotting and cliched dialogue. The half-hopeful, half-despairing ending is contrived ... but it feels right.
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WhatsOnStage
September 3rd, 2021

This intricate structure is beautifully held together both by the poetry and quality of Pinnock's writing. The second half loses the tightness of the first. But this is balanced by the sheer richness of [the] narrative.
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The Times (UK)
September 3rd, 2021

In effect, there are three or four playlets competing for our attention, and none of them comes to life. It’s a fatally complicated tangle, made even more bewildering by the doubling of roles.
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The Guardian (UK)
September 3rd, 2021

The wealth of overlapping stories ... give the drama an exciting, anarchic edge but also create cerebral circles within circles. There are plenty of potent moments ... and [the] actors bring immense conviction.
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