The reviews are in for Annie Wobbler (Revisited), which began at the Finborough Theatre on 2 September and runs there until 26 September. Nichola McAuliffe plays all three of Arnold Wesker’s women in the triptych he wrote for her in 1981, in a 75-minute version she has updated and directs herself, with Alex Jennings, James Naughtie and Peter Straker heard as the voices offstage. Eight critics have filed, and seven of them scored it: five at four stars or better, the Guardian at three and Plays To See at one. Almost all of them are reviewing the same thing — the costume and character changes, the accents, and the reordering that now ends the evening with Annie herself in Waterloo station.
The verdict: eight reviews in so far — one at four and a half stars, four at four, one at three and one at one, plus the Morning Star, which publishes no rating. Across the seven that score it the average is 3.5 out of 5. Every notice is really a notice of Nichola McAuliffe, who plays all three women in 75 minutes and directs herself; six of the seven rate that highly, and Plays To See is the one that does not.
What are critics saying about Annie Wobbler (Revisited)?
The Reviews Hub
“Chameleonic character work”
Reviewer: Scott Matthewman
“Anna’s biggest foe is her own self-doubt, a holdover from a fractious relationship with a mother seemingly intent on undermining her daughter’s determination to succeed. Wesker’s writing is at its most delightfully skittish here, with Anna’s attempts to overcome her own self-deprecating modesty presenting a Northern comic monologue style that would later be solidified by the likes of Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood. McAuliffe deftly portrays a character some 50 years her younger, offering a portrait with interwoven layers of timidity and steel.”
theartsdesk
“Solid performance anchors one-woman show”
Reviewer: Gary Naylor
“McAuliffe delivers these three women, three warnings almost, in a very punchy 75 minutes, running through a capacious toolbox of acting techniques. The face changes, the clothes too, the posture, the voice, the attitude, but she never reduces these characters to turns paraded for our amusement. The women, flawed as they may be, have a dignity, their own sense of decency and an inner strength that will see them through.”
ReviewsGate
Reviewer: William Russell
“They are all beautifully delivered by McAuliffe but her Annie is something very special indeed. Had Wesker written his play today the chances are that he would have been derided for daring to create women and show how they think and behave but the play survives the change in fashion. It has been imaginatively staged, McAuliffe directs herself and does some terrific costume and character changes using a handy screen placed centre stage, while assorted men provide voices off – Alex Jennings is the boyfriend, Jim Naughtie the interviewer and Peter Straker the station master who tells Annie Waterloo is closing down and she must leave.”
LouReviews
Reviewer: Louise Penn
“The lighting and sound design (Richard House, Sebastian Frost) add to the overall sense of place and time, but this is McAuliffe’s show all the way, reconnecting with a text which clearly means a lot to her, and presenting a variety of female voices in a production that starts with the hope of youth and ends with the regret of getting older.”
The Guardian
“Arnold Wesker’s moving women live again”
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
“The destitute Annie of the final monologue is the most haunting. She seems like a figure risen from London’s past, with an old-fashioned cockney accent, and thinks of herself as a seller of “bags of coal”. But there is also the universal sadness of a drunk woman living somewhere between her better past and this foggy present.”
Plays To See
Reviewer: Wilder Gutterson
“Unfortunately, the play struggles to find either traction or relevance. The script feels like a collection of unrelated, desultory monologues, with little sense of arc, direction or focus. With no director credit in the programme, McAuliffe seems lost in a cascade of words and stage actions that often feel arbitrary rather than illuminating the characters or propelling the piece forward.”
Morning Star
“Classy revival of Arnold Wesker’s study of working women”
Reviewer: Simon Parsons
“The series of dramatic monologues reveals snapshots of three very different women coming to terms with their own identities. Rearranged from the original order, McAuliffe seamlessly slips between the contrasting roles, from working-class graduate Anna, getting ready for a date, to successful middle-aged novelist Annabella preparing to be interviewed, to an old cleaning lady Annie revisiting memories of employer and police questions.”
Production photographs by Ella Carmen Dale.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Neil Norman, “Subtle, nuanced performance”), which gave it four stars and calls the revival “a theatrical tour de force”. Its review sits behind a paywall, so there is no quote here.
For what the critics made of the rest of the past fortnight, see our roundups for Holy Fool at the Park Theatre, The Story at the National and A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse.
Annie Wobbler (Revisited) runs at the Finborough Theatre until Saturday 26 September 2026. The running time is approximately 75 minutes with no interval.
