The notices are in for Triumph, Caryl Churchill’s new play of barely a quarter of an hour, running for a single week at the Almeida Theatre. Kate O’Flynn plays Iris, a blonde-wigged press secretary reading out an emperor’s triumphs and atrocities, every one of them taken from Suetonius’s The Twelve Caesars, and the press performance landed on the very day a real White House press secretary lost her job. Where the critics part company is over what the play adds: The Reviews Hub and Everything Theatre call it a gem and a gut-punch, while The Times, The Standard and Liam O’Dell find the Trump parallel familiar and the piece slight. On O’Flynn they come close to agreeing, and James Macdonald’s spare staging wins more friends than it loses.
The verdict: eleven reviews in so far, every one of them rated: two five-star notices, five at four stars and four at three, an average of 3.8 out of 5. Nearly every critic singles out Kate O’Flynn for praise, and most remark on the play opening the same day a real White House press secretary lost her job. The Reviews Hub, Everything Theatre and All That Dazzles marvel at how much Churchill packs into twenty minutes; The Times, The Standard and Liam O’Dell think it tells Trump’s critics little they did not already know. The Stage’s four-star review sits behind a registration wall and is listed at the foot of the page.
What are critics saying about TRIUMPH?
The Reviews Hub
"Powerful comic punch"
Reviewer: Jane Darcy
Jane Darcy calls the play a gem, and likes the way the stage puts a public lectern and a private bedroom side by side, ancient Rome and the present day at once. She finds the catalogue of imperial cruelty genuinely funny, the distance of two thousand years letting the audience laugh even as the modern parallel lands.
"At just 15 minutes long, it’s a witty, whip-smart satire which neatly melds Imperial Rome with 21st-century politics."
She credits James Macdonald’s sharp direction and both leads, with Sargon Yelda in sound support as Rufus.
Everything Theatre
"A bombardment of propaganda that will send you into a philosophical spiral where power, truth, and the ethics of political persuasion are questioned."
Reviewer: Rebecca Clifton
Rebecca Clifton rates it unmissable, reading it as a grisly picture of a politics in which the truth is bent to fit the party line. She calls Kate O’Flynn outstanding as the immaculate public mouthpiece, and warms to Matthew Beard’s Marcus as charming rather than world-weary.
"James Macdonald captures the poignancy of Churchill’s writing in his minimalistic but ominous direction."
Her closing note is a bleak one: the evening leaves its audience in despair at how little the habits of power have changed.
WhatsOnStage
"Caryl Churchill has pitch-perfect prescience with her Almeida micro-play"
Reviewer: Sarah Crompton
Sarah Crompton says the piece is barely a play at fifteen minutes, yet far too chilling to be written off as a sketch, and notes that its premiere fell on the day a real White House press secretary left the job after five days.
"Directed with crisp straightforwardness by James Macdonald, Triumph makes its point by using sheer excess of Suetonius’s descriptions."
She finds O’Flynn wholly convincing in both the smiling public role and the troubled private one, with Beard and Sargon Yelda strong beside her.
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Sophie Luck
Sophie Luck enjoys how much the swift satire fits into its running time, and praises Miriam Buether’s set for dividing the stage between bed and podium, the public face and the private doubt.
"Triumph is thought provoking, intellectual and darkly humorous."
Her one reservation is that the brevity leaves little room to explore why people come to back an extreme regime, with most of the time given over to the press briefings.
All That Dazzles
Reviewer: Daz Gale
Daz Gale remarks on the novelty of leaving a theatre twenty minutes after the curtain went up, and finds the coincidence with the White House news almost too neat to believe.
"It is impressive just how much Churchill manages to cram into such a short space of time…"
He calls O’Flynn’s performance wonderful, switching in an instant between private fear and the cheerful public mask, and singles out the production’s use of live video.
View from the Gods
Reviewer: Simon Jenner
Simon Jenner reads the play as a two-way mirror: a pointed jab at the present, but also a reminder that the shape of tyranny barely changes from one century to the next. He admires the design work, from the costumes to the fire bowls lighting the stage, and finds Yelda’s quiet Rufus full of surprises.
"A superb, substantial sliver from a master who can still cut it, gleaming and toothed and entire unto itself."
The Times
"Triumph review — is Caryl Churchill’s mini play for the TikTok generation?"
Reviewer: Clive Davis
Clive Davis calls it a fragment rather than a play, and suspects a less celebrated writer would have been sent away to find something fresher than Suetonius as a way into Washington. He grants that the timing is on the Almeida’s side, and finds O’Flynn and Beard as capable as twenty minutes allows.
"As a satire on Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s of passing interest."
He suggests it is best seen as a curtain-raiser for Three and a Bit, the new collection of Churchill short plays the Almeida has announced.
The Standard
"Caryl Churchill's short, caustic White House satire"
Reviewer: Nick Curtis
Nick Curtis treats any new Churchill play as an event, but sees this one as a bright miniature built on a single, plain idea, without the formal daring or the depth of character of her great earlier work. He finds Marcus and Rufus thinly drawn, there mainly to set Iris’s conscience in motion.
"Within the limited arc of her character, O’Flynn is excellent, her bright-eyed zeal swiftly hollowed out."
Liam O’Dell
"Caryl Churchill’s Trump satire says nothing new in 20 minutes"
Reviewer: Liam O’Dell
Liam O’Dell enjoys spotting the links between Suetonius’s emperors and the Trump administration, but argues that recognising them is all the play asks of its audience. He finds Yelda menacing and Beard amusing, though abrupt blackouts and slack scene changes count against the staging.
"A historical story having a modern resonance is always intriguing, but it should also provide a new perspective on the present day."
The Arts Dispatch
"Caryl Churchill’s new prophetic short play"
The Arts Dispatch watched the real press secretary’s exit unfold on the afternoon of the press performance, and calls the coincidence life imitating art to an extreme degree. The review likes the simplicity of the staging but finds the scene changes clunky.
"O’Flynn is excellent, giving us a studied performance of a woman coming to terms with her reality in just 20 minutes."
It wishes the twenty minutes had left room for the other characters, and for the people on the receiving end of the emperor’s decrees.
Production photographs by Marc Brenner.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (David Benedict, four stars, "Astonishing synchronicity"), whose review sits behind a registration wall.
We reported the casting of Kate O’Flynn and Matthew Beard when the play was announced, and the news that it shares its world premiere with a parallel production in New York. The critics have also had their say on Golden Boy, whose set Triumph borrows on the Almeida’s main stage.
Triumph runs at the Almeida Theatre until Friday 23 October 2026.
For more information, visit the official website.
