The notices are in for A Month in the Country, Lyndsey Turner’s revival of Brian Friel’s version of Turgenev, and the Donmar has a warmly received autumn opener on its hands. Sophie Okonedo plays Natalya Petrovna, the restless mistress of a Russian country house whose infatuation with her son’s young tutor pulls every relationship around her out of shape, and most of the critics wrote about her before they wrote about anything else. There is broad agreement too on Leslie Travers’ design, a foliage-filled glass box that drops over a lawn between the acts, and on Daniel Rigby’s comic playing of the scheming local doctor. Where the reviews part company is over the casting itself: one critic argued that Okonedo carries too much natural authority for a woman Turgenev wrote as a coquette, while the rest read that same authority as the whole point.
The verdict: ten reviews so far — six four-star notices, one three-star, and three outlets that publish no rating at all. Among those that score, the average is 3.9 out of 5, and every one of them puts Sophie Okonedo at the centre of the evening.
What are critics saying about A Month in the Country?
The Guardian
“Delicate, tragicomic tangle of desire and disappointment”
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
“This runs the risk of resembling a restoration play but the pace never becomes frenzied or farce-like. Okonedo is nuanced as always, playing Natalya as a haughty, controlling snob but still retaining compassion for her. There are a couple of strangely melodramatic moments of psychological exposition (using a disembodied voice on audio) in which characters speak to themselves in a heightened state of emotional turmoil. It is how we learn of Natalya’s intentions, and she sounds like a drawing room Lady Macbeth, although it does not jar as much as it could.”
The Standard
“Sophie Okonedo makes a fine return to the stage”
Reviewer: Nick Curtis
“There are finely judged performances of burgeoning, youthful sensuality from Diedericks and Gibson here and a lovely study of on-the-make calculation from the comically gifted Rigby as the doctor, who stops just short of desperation. You sense Friel’s Irish ear for dialogue in the terrible jokes Shpigelsky tells to keep in favour. (“You winnow some, you lose-o some,” he quips when Arkady’s winnowing machine breaks down yet again.) Petrie is one of those actors whose mere presence on a cast list makes you relax and his Michel is a study of quiet, enthralled pain.”
The Independent
“A Month in the Country prunes a Russian classic without losing its thorns”
Reviewer: Alice Saville
“Of course, everything gets dragged out into the open eventually. Sophie Okonedo makes a compelling lead as the controlling lady of the house, Natalya, who feels that no one should feel so much as a quiver of romance without her express approval. Okonedo is a few decades older than the character as Turgenev wrote her, which gives the story extra poignancy. When she falls in love with puppyish young tutor Aleksey, it’s almost unbearably shameful to watch – the first time her steely self-control has failed her, after decades of dominating her genial husband Arkady (Thomas Arnold).”
WhatsOnStage
Reviewer: Sarah Crompton
“This is the key to Okonedo’s wonderfully febrile and totally compelling portrayal of Natalya Petrovna, dissatisfied wife of a rich man Arkady, whose life and that of those around her is utterly unmoored by her sudden passion for her son’s young tutor Aleksey (Patrick Gibson). She is both a tragic figure, failed by her circumstances, and a comic narcissist, whose desire becomes the focus of her entire life.”
theartsdesk
“A Turgenev revamp with fizz and wit”
Reviewer: Helen Hawkins
“Miraculously, the whole affair stays afloat and is rewardingly funny from the off. In one of the opening scenes, a card game is in progress at which Herr Schaaf’s fractured English is the main attraction, impeccably corrected and dismissed by Brown’s sharp-tongued Anna. Schaaf is a fount of unusual malapropisms, the best possibly being his announcement that he is a “lecher” (which he is, but he means “archer”). Daniel Rigby, who began his career as a standup, revels in Shpigelsky’s knowingly cheesy jokes, and even Alastair Petrie drops Michel’s solemnity for some barbed witticisms before going back to reading Tristram Shandy.”
LondonTheatre.co.uk
“This elegant production blends Russian ennui with Irish pastoralism”
Reviewer: Julia Rank
“It's a production in which the men shine. The highly watchable Patrick Gibson employs his natural Irish accent as Aleksey, who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps and finds himself embroiled in an infatuation that seems all-consuming at the time but, as he comments, he’ll have forgotten about by Christmas. The standout performance comes from the beautifully understated Alistair Petrie as family friend Michael, who has a hopeless crush on Natalya but finds himself continually friend-zoned and scapegoated in a life “fated to bringing up the rear”.”
Theatre Weekly
Reviewer: Greg Stewart
“The play ultimately belongs to Sophie Okonedo. Her mesmerising Natalya is both sympathetic and exasperating, a woman whose overwhelming desire gradually corrodes her judgement. As her infatuation deepens, she lashes out at those around her and resorts to increasingly manipulative tactics, including an attempt to marry off the sixteen-year-old Vera simply to remove a rival. Okonedo captures both the character’s cruelty and her vulnerability, ensuring we continue to understand her even when we cannot condone her actions.”
BroadwayWorld
Reviewer: Cindy Marcolina
“Sophie Okonedo leads a stunning cast, introducing an imperious Natalya. Her fiery disposition borders on disdain as she accepts her feelings with inflexible impassibility. Self-aware and hypercritical, she stirs the pot out of sheer boredom. Okonedo, much like her character, has a penchant for manipulating the scene in her favour, delivering a thoroughly remarkable performance. Once revealed, her emotional anguish takes over her whole being until order is restored and she goes back to being snooty and entitled.”
Production photographs by Helen Murray.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Dave Fargnoli, four stars, “consummate performances elevate this bittersweet drama of stifling manners and unrequited passion”) and the Financial Times (“Sophie Okonedo is wonderfully complex in A Month in the Country at the Donmar”), whose reviews sit behind paywalls.
For more of what the critics have been saying this season, our roundups of Electra/Persona at the National Theatre, Jeeves Takes Charge at the Charing Cross Theatre and Abigail’s Party at the Harold Pinter Theatre gather the notices for three more of the summer’s openings.
A Month in the Country is booking at the Donmar Warehouse until 3 October 2026.
