The notices for Speculations are in, and they are cooler than its pedigree promised. Torben Betts’s new play, directed by Trevor Nunn at the Marylebone Theatre, follows the columnist Dorothy Kilgallen (Janie Dee) as she lays out her theories on the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Lee Harvey Oswald to a young babysitter, Flo (Gloria Obianyo), while a revolving set carries us to Monroe’s bedroom and a New Orleans bar. The critics largely agree on the craft: Dee’s authority, Obianyo’s warmth, Ferdy Roberts’s mob boss and Lee Newby’s design all draw praise. They part company on the script, which The Recs finds thoughtful and eye-opening while most others, The Standard loudest among them, hear only exposition and old rumours.
2.5 / 5 from 14 criticsThe verdict: fourteen reviews in so far, every one of them with a star rating: one four-star notice, six at three stars, six at two (The Stage among them) and a single star from The Standard. That averages 2.5 out of 5. Nearly every critic admires Lee Newby’s revolving set and has a good word for the cast, Gloria Obianyo in particular; where they part company is on whether Torben Betts’s script has anything new to say about the deaths it revisits, and most think it does not.
What are critics saying about Speculations?
The Recs
"Janie Dee exposes with expertise"
Reviewer: Erin Muldoon
The warmest notice so far. Erin Muldoon admires the way Betts and Nunn make the far-fetched feel plausible, and singles out the Oswald and Marcello scenes as the evening’s real tension builders. She concedes that the dialogue tips into exposition but finds the whole a thought-provoking piece of political theatre.
"Overall, Betts has written something that is thoughtful and eye-opening."
Time Out
"This conspiracy thriller about the deaths of JFK and Marilyn Monroe is slickly entertaining but hardly urgent"
Reviewer: Caroline McGinn
Caroline McGinn credits Nunn’s production with gravitas and praises all three actresses, with Gloria Obianyo outstanding as the babysitter Flo. What holds her back is the material: well-worn theories, and a story whose ending the audience already knows.
"Dee is always a dream to watch, but the play suffers from too much exposition…"
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
Stuart King likes the look of the thing, Lee Newby’s chic revolving set and costumes above all, and finds the cast solid throughout. His complaint is that the play recycles familiar theories without adding anything, and that the dialogue leaves the actors to manufacture the jeopardy themselves.
"…with nothing remarkable to say, SPECULATIONS is unlikely to set the theatre world alight."
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Chris Omaweng
Chris Omaweng is impressed that the technically demanding set ran without a hitch, and allows that the play makes a fair case for investigative journalism. He finds every strand heavy on exposition, though, and its revelations tame by modern standards.
"Interesting but not quite gripping, the production is true to its title: it isn’t quite sure of itself."
The Spy in the Stalls
"There is plenty of room for animated speculation in the bar after the show"
Reviewer: Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans enjoys the filmic way Nunn and Newby slide between the three settings, and finds Obianyo an engaging presence. He misses any real sense of danger, however, and feels the flashback scenes go round in circles.
"The performances are all convincing, even if their lines are less so."
All That Dazzles
Reviewer: Cat Wiltshire
Cat Wiltshire rates Janie Dee’s accomplished lead and the period design, lighting and sound. She finds the dialogue heavy, the scenes loosely connected and the two hours and twenty minutes longer than the material can carry.
"An interesting, if flawed evening of theatre that leaves us with plenty of questions but not enough dramatic satisfaction."
LouReviews
Reviewer: Louise Penn
Louise Penn finds Dee persuasive as a reporter sure of her ground yet afraid for her life, and enjoys Ferdy Roberts’s menacing mob boss. She is less taken with the Monroe and Kennedy scenes, and thinks Flo’s civil-rights perspective deserved far more room.
"Speculations doesn’t quite live up to its promise and stops short of connecting the dots between these cases."
WhatsOnStage
Reviewer: Julia Rank
Julia Rank thinks Newby’s rotating set is clever at first but grows repetitive, with each segment ending flat. She credits Dee with authority as the brittle columnist, but feels Monroe never becomes a real person and the drama never takes hold.
"…writing and Trevor Nunn’s production both fail to grip and are hampered by a stilted talkiness."
BroadwayWorld
"This political thriller directed by Trevor Nunn fails to convince"
Reviewer: Clementine Scott
Clementine Scott notes warm chemistry between Dee and Obianyo and calls Roberts’s Marcello commanding. The Monroe scenes are where the evening falters for her, and she cannot see what ties its cases together beyond the Kennedy name.
"But Speculations is not sure enough of itself to explore this in anything like the depth it deserves."
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Phil Meikle
Phil Meikle can see Betts’s passion for his subject and admires the music-box set, even if it turns too often. He finds the scene-change dialogue a pastiche and the bar scenes too static.
"Speculations doesn’t add anything new to the story beyond the dramatisation of Dorothy Kilgallen…"
London Unattached
Reviewer: Dan Paling
Dan Paling enjoys the period sets and costumes and credits the cast with strong work on a difficult text. His objection is that the historical figures come out as cardboard versions of themselves, saying exactly what we expect.
"In its form the play is speculative; in script it is predictable."
Jonathan Baz Reviews
Reviewer: Jonathan Baz
Jonathan Baz admires Obianyo’s finely weighted Flo and Roberts’s crackling Marcello, but is hard on the casting of the Monroe and Kennedy scenes. Newby’s ingenious revolves, he adds, soon become predictable.
"…Betts’s script becomes quickly mired in sensational and cliché-ridden melodrama."
The Standard
"Cloth-eared Marilyn Monroe conspiracy play"
Reviewer: Nick Curtis
The harshest verdict comes from Nick Curtis, who calls the piece an exposition-freighted talkathon and regrets seeing Dee and Nunn attached to it. He spares a kind word for Obianyo and calls Newby’s set the evening’s redeeming grace.
"But mostly it’s just old rumours dressed up as new."
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Sam Marlowe, two stars, "Slow, clunky and often laughably melodramatic"), whose review sits behind a paywall.
For more on the production, see our earlier stories from the rehearsal room and on its extension into January, and for another of this week’s openings our roundup of The Lives of Others at the Adelphi Theatre.
Speculations is booking at the Marylebone Theatre until 17 January 2027.
