WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHERE: Garrick Theatre

WHEN: 12/11

The Kenneth Branagh Company’s year-long run of six plays at the Garrick Theatre closed tonight on its highest high with its star taking the lead in The Entertainer.

• Read on for reasons including Greta Scacci’s amazing turn

We caught half of the productions and it’s been a run of highs (Judi Dench in A Winter’s Tale) and lows (the loss of Richard Madden from Romeo and Juliet) but tonight’s last night is definitely one of the former.

The Entertainer was written by John Osborne for Laurence Olivier in 1957 and is about a failed music hall performer. Branagh has drawn many comparisons with Olivier during his career and the depiction of Britain here as a dilapidated old music hall will be familiar to some.

Sophie McShera (Daisy in Downton Abbey) is touching as Branagh’s daughter Jean but nothing prepared us for how amazing Greta Scacci’s transformation would be for the downtrodden wife. The Kenneth Branagh Company’s season just hit its highest high.

Its star dominates this production of a play about an angry old man that we just didn’t care too much for.

• Picture via Facebook courtesy Kenneth Branagh Company.
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