The reviews are in for Affluenza, Andy Sandberg’s new play that opens the Mainstage season at Riverside Studios and gives Noah Schnapp of Stranger Things his London stage debut. Inspired by a real American case, it follows a teenage drink-driver from the Hamptons whose lawyer argues that wealth has left him unable to tell right from wrong, and then leaps decades forward into a reality-TV satire. That leap is where the critics part company with it. Most of them admire the premise and a good deal of the first act; very few can follow where the second goes. The Reviews Hub is the one four-star voice, Rupert Young collects more praise than anyone, and the size of Schnapp’s part is a complaint that runs through the notices.
The verdict: nineteen reviews in so far, and a hard landing: one four-star notice, three three-star, seven two-star and five one-star, with two outlets that publish no rating and The Times’s score out of sight behind its paywall. Across the sixteen that score, the average is 2.0 out of 5. Almost every critic admires the premise and much of the first act, and almost none can follow the play into its second, where a jump forward in time turns a legal drama into a reality-TV satire.
What are critics saying about Affluenza?
The Reviews Hub
"Bleak wealth satire"
Reviewer: Fiona Paterson
Paterson is the warmest voice in the field. She reads the play as a pointed satire on ultra-wealth and gives casting director Nicholas Hockaday credit for a versatile company of six covering fifteen characters, with Donald Sage Mackay anchoring both acts.
"Slick and fast-paced, Affluenza feels Netflix-perfect: an American production for an American audience"
Her reservations are about the leap forward in time, which she thinks blurs the doubling and leaves the reality-TV turn amusing but short of the serious dilemmas it raises.
The Arts Desk
"Too rich a mix for a rich kid’s tale"
Reviewer: Gary Naylor
Naylor gives the first half a good deal of credit, praising Andy Sandberg’s handling of the ethical argument and naming Rupert Young very strong as the lawyer Brad.
"the satire sharp and the morality explored in some detail and with real poignancy"
The second half is another matter: he finds the swerve into reality television tired and dated, though he still values the first act’s point about money tipping the scales of justice.
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
King notes that the run has already been extended on the strength of its famous name, while suggesting that Noah Schnapp is largely eclipsed by the more experienced company around him.
"despite a rock solid premise and strong opening, meanders into surreal territory with clunkily-written linking scenes"
He enjoys Juliet Cowan as the TV director and Janette Manrara making the most of her smaller parts, and finds some amusing fly-on-the-wall moments along the way.
The Live Review
"A fantastic cast and impressive set, but ultimately a play that never quite reaches its peak"
Reviewer: Katie Shaw
Shaw is the critic most taken with Schnapp, and she rates the whole company highly in their rotating roles.
"Noah Schnapp is wonderful on stage, offering a performance with raw emotional range"
Her complaint is structural: a first act with large gaps between its scenes and a second act she finds bizarre. She credits Charlie Corcoran’s set, with Jack Weir’s lighting and Emily Drohan’s sound, for the evening’s most effective moments.
LondonTheatre.co.uk
"Noah Schnapp stars in a timely play about the moral corruption of wealth and privilege"
Reviewer: Aliya Al-Hassan
Al-Hassan sees the makings of a timely play but says Sandberg skips the trial entirely, rushes an underdeveloped subplot and then appears to start another play after the interval. She finds Schnapp’s parts surprisingly small and reports sound problems on press night.
"…the result is a missed opportunity to say anything thoughtful at all."
Rupert Young brings some gravitas to the lawyer, in her view, and Janette Manrara finds depth as the attorney urging families to settle.
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Chris Omaweng
Omaweng thinks the first half handles its several perspectives reasonably well, then regrets that none of the strands it sets up is followed through.
"Act Two really could have been a standalone single-act play in itself, and a juicier one"
Schnapp does a good job with what he is given, he writes, but both roles are underwritten and the stage time falls short of the publicity. He also misses the courtroom scenes the story seems to promise.
All That Dazzles
Reviewer: Angel Nield
Nield finds the first act racing through an underdeveloped subplot and the second half playing like a separate show, but she is generous to the performers.
"A fascinating and apt concept that, like Dylan himself, never quite finds its purpose"
She thinks Schnapp comes into his own as Dylan’s son Todd, praises the company’s multi-rolling, and credits the set, lighting and sound for some striking scene changes.
The Spy in the Stalls
Reviewer: Hannah Bothelton
Bothelton finds flashes of real insight, among them a meeting between the lawyer’s wife and a bereaved mother, but says Act One drops several of its storylines and Act Two’s turn to comedy blurs the themes.
"Offering timely social commentary, ‘Affluenza’ shows promise but still needs further development."
She praises Will Van Dyke’s music and Jack Weir’s lighting, faults the sound design, and singles out Juliet Cowan and Donald Sage Mackay among the cast.
Read Hannah Bothelton’s full review at The Spy in the Stalls
London Unattached
Reviewer: Jeanne Horak
Horak admires Corcoran’s cutaway beach-house set and a first act that asks real questions about American justice, then is thrown by the jump of a couple of decades into reality television.
"But in trying to tackle all of them in 2 hours, the play does justice to none."
She reports an audience leaving the theatre puzzled about what they had just watched.
Liam O’Dell
"Noah Schnapp plays untouchable rich kid in unfunny drama"
Reviewer: Liam O’Dell
O’Dell argues that playing the material for laughs backfires, leaving most of the characters insufferable, and that the affluenza defence itself is passed over far too quickly.
"…the play is far from rich in terms of detail."
He finds the second act’s reality-TV satire disorienting, and the performances, Schnapp’s included, pitched at a melodrama the play cannot carry.
The Guardian
"Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp can’t save this baffling disaster"
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
Akbar finds the opening set-up intriguing, with echoes of a real British hit-and-run case, and then watches the play veer into the bizarre once the interval has passed.
"…comedy, drama or a theatrical car crash in slow motion."
She asks why a star was cast only to be tucked into two small parts, and admits the result is oddly hard to look away from.
WhatsOnStage
Reviewer: Theo Bosanquet
Bosanquet sees hints of interesting ideas in the early scenes but says the order of events defeats any coherent theme, with characters dropped and dialogue heavy on cliché.
"…it goes on one of the most head-scratchingly befuddling narrative trajectories I’ve ever seen on stage."
Schnapp has little to do in either role, he writes, while Rupert Young convinces as the lawyer but not as the grown-up Dylan.
BroadwayWorld
Reviewer: Cindy Marcolina
Marcolina calls the central provocation excellent and then says the play does nothing with it before abandoning it after the interval.
"Sandberg doesn’t tell a story; he desperately tries to sell an idea."
She rates Young the most impressive of the company and Schnapp merely adequate, held back by the script.
Plays International
Reviewer: Louise Penn
Penn finds a play that never settles on a tone, leaving no character to care about, and a second act she found embarrassing to watch.
"When so little of a play makes sense, it is hard to recommend it on any level."
She reports line slips, microphone problems and prop malfunctions on press night, and lays the blame for the weaker performances with Sandberg as writer and director.
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Bronagh
Bronagh was intrigued by the affluenza defence and disappointed that the court case is over almost before it has begun, with no courtroom drama at all.
"There are the makings of an exciting production in there, but sadly it never bubbles to the surface."
She finds Schnapp more a supporting player than his billing suggests, enjoys Janette Manrara moving between roles, and warns fans not to expect a punchy legal drama.
Theatre Weekly
Reviewer: Greg Stewart
Stewart, who publishes no star rating, calls Rupert Young the production’s strongest asset in both his roles and credits Schnapp with an admirable performance in limited stage time.
"A fascinating play seems to be buried somewhere inside Affluenza…"
He is scathing about the sound design, which he says left the cast sounding robotic, and about a second act that abandons the groundwork of the first.
London Theatre Reviews
"Wealth, Privilege, and Missed Potential"
The unsigned notice, which gives no rating, is the kindest to the company: it finds Schnapp genuinely touching as Todd, Rupert Young assured, and Janette Manrara at her best as the victims’ lawyer.
"…a talented cast and an incredible two-storey set by Charlie Corcoran, it never quite follows through on its potential."
Its complaint is that the story jumps straight past the trial and sentencing it has set up.
Production photographs by Danny Kaan.
Also reviewed by: The Times (Clive Davis, “Not even a Stranger Things star can save this dud”) and The Stage (Holly O’Mahony, two stars, “Grows increasingly directionless”), whose reviews sit behind a paywall and a registration wall respectively.
See our earlier piece with the first production photographs from Riverside Studios, and for more from the critics, read our roundups of Once Upon a Time in Sokoto at Royal & Derngate and HAM at Soho Theatre.
Affluenza runs at Riverside Studios until Saturday 28 November 2026.
