The reviews are in for Dogstar, Daisy Hall’s new play in the Downstairs studio at Hampstead Theatre and her follow-up to Bellringers. Lucy Morrison directs a three-hander set below deck on a nineteenth-century whaling ship locked in Arctic ice, where the last of the crew wait out scurvy, blame and something that may or may not be a vision. The notices agree on the acting: Justin Edwards, Abdul Jalloh and Adam Rojko Vega are praised almost everywhere, and so is Anna Short’s sound design. They disagree, sharply, about the play. Some critics found it gripping and very funny; others, The Guardian’s among them, say that like the ship it goes nowhere, and the supernatural turn near the end divides them most of all.
3.2 / 5 from 13 criticsThe verdict: thirteen reviews in so far, from The Guardian, the trade and independent sites and London Box Office, and every one of them gives a star rating: three at four stars, nine at three and The Guardian at two, an average of 3.2 out of 5. Almost all of them praise the three performances and the creaking, cracking soundscape. Where they part company is the play itself: the four-star notices find it gripping, funny and original, while the cooler ones find it static and are unpersuaded by its supernatural turn.
What are critics saying about Dogstar?
BroadwayWorld
Reviewer: Clementine Scott
Scott hears less absurdism than in Hall’s debut and more sardonic British sitcom, with a crew whose quarrels play like a workplace dispute rather than a power struggle. She credits Jalloh, Rojko Vega and Edwards with stopping the wisecracks from running away with the play, and gives Holly Ellis’s lighting and Anna Short’s sound much of the credit for the visions.
"Still, Dogstar deserves credit for its originality, in how it walks a tonal tightrope few could pull off."
Her one reservation is that the jokes sometimes return too quickly after a death, draining the urgency.
The Recs
"Surreal yet too real"
Reviewer: Nicola Berry
Berry reads the play as a parable about using up a resource until nothing is left, and thinks it makes that point with real force. She calls the casting excellent, singling out Adam Rojko Vega’s Gorey, and admires how economically Hannah Schmidt, Holly Ellis and Anna Short conjure the ship.
"This is only writer Daisy Hall’s second play and shows remarkable confidence and maturity."
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Jasmine
One of the warmest notices finds the talk itself the drama, and says the bleakness is matched by writing that is genuinely funny. Jasmine praises Lucy Morrison’s pacing and the way the warm light of the visions makes their loss felt.
"It’s completely gripping and you spend an hour and a half completely absorbed by their world."
The ending, she admits, arrives suddenly and leaves its meaning unclear.
LondonTheatre.co.uk
"this unpredictable voyage is both witty and startlingly surreal"
Reviewer: Cheryl Markosky
Markosky calls Abdul Jalloh excellent as the rule-bound young Sam and Justin Edwards assured as the veteran Babben. She hears a present-day echo in whalers fearing for their trade, and enjoys a conclusion that keeps the audience guessing.
"Both witty and heart-rending, this Conrad-esque tale delivers laugh-out-loud humour and a startlingly surreal twist."
The Arts Desk
"enjoyably ghostly, if frustratingly static"
Reviewer: Aleks Sierz
Sierz admires the ragged, humane dialogue and calls the acting excellent, giving Edwards’s Babben real physical and moral weight. What he cannot warm to is the magic realism, which to him keeps the stakes low in a story that has nowhere to move.
"For its 85 minutes of running time this static reality already seems too long."
The Reviews Hub
"Ice, Ice Baby"
Reviewer: Richard Maguire
Maguire finds the first half slow, heavy with exposition about how the ship came to be stuck, and is unsure how some of its ideas fit together. He is impressed by Abdul Jalloh and credits the lighting and sound with supplying the drama the talk lacks.
"…Dogstar is simultaneously too strange and not strange enough to warrant its 90-minute running time."
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Chris Abbott
Abbott calls Justin Edwards superb and finds all three actors convincing at close quarters. He credits Lucy Morrison with making the visions believable, but feels the piece, at under 90 minutes, sits closer to a Fringe-length play than a full evening.
"Daisy Hall is an author of promise who is well served by cast and director…"
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
King enjoys the knowing, modern glibness of the dialogue, which he thinks should jar with the whaling era but works, and finds the supernatural elements sensibly underplayed. He praises rounded characterisations from all three actors.
"DOGSTAR is a quirky oddity with a few flaws but surprising charm."
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Chris Omaweng
Omaweng laughed along with the rest of the house and rates Edwards’s stage presence, but the play left him with more questions than answers.
"A strong cast did their best with what they were given, but what they were given was all over the place."
Plays To See
Reviewer: Jad Adams
Adams hears Beckett in the bleak humour and admires the chilly set and costumes. He doubts there is much meaning to uncover beyond the obvious ecological one, and wanted more dramatic tension.
"While all three actors did an admirable job, it was hard going with a colourless plot."
The Spy in the Stalls
"Imaginative, thought provoking and a bit bizarre"
Reviewer: Jonathan Evans
Evans admires Hall’s distinctive style and calls the three performances remarkable, with the comedy and tension sitting comfortably together. For him the play works best in the realm of reality, and the turn into the supernatural leaves the audience at sea.
"“Dogstar” is a bracing breath of fresh air, but it could do with having a somewhat clearer idea of where it is heading."
Theatre, Art and Film Reviews
Reviewer: Elaine C
Elaine C enjoys the humour, much of it from Gorey, and singles out Anna Short’s sound of the ice cracking. She thinks the switches between the real and the supernatural sometimes confuse the play, which would benefit from editing.
"The cast of three brings the fear and despair of their unforseen situation to life very well."
Read Elaine C’s full review at Theatre, Art and Film Reviews
The Guardian
"There’s scurvy, mutiny and mystery in Dogstar – but like its icebound ship this drama goes nowhere"
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
The coolest notice. Akbar thinks the set-up strong but finds the conversation going round in circles, neither chilling enough as a ghost story nor sharp enough as a mutiny drama, and calls the ecological metaphor too blatant.
"Under the direction of Lucy Morrison, the men bicker and witter, sometimes humorously, although you wish it were darker, sharper, funnier."
Before the reviews landed we set out everything you need to know about Dogstar. For more from this week’s openings, see our roundups of Nero at Southwark Playhouse Elephant and Iphigénie en Tauride at the London Coliseum.
Dogstar is booking at Hampstead Theatre until 5 December.
