Review by Mark
Adapting George Eliot’s sprawling 800-plus-page masterpiece, widely regarded as one of the greatest English-language novels of all time, for the stage is no small feat. It's a challenge that playwright Nina Raine and director Jeremy Herrin meet with sharp wit and structural clarity in this new production at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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| Nia Towle as Dorothea Brooke. Photo by Johan Persson. |
Set against the backdrop of 1830s Warwickshire on the cusp of political reform and medical progress, the narrative weaves together the intersecting lives of a provincial town grappling with modernity. At its heart are the parallel tragedies of Dorothea Brooke, an idealistic young woman yearning for intellectual purpose, and Tertius Lydgate, an ambitious doctor determined to revolutionise local healthcare. Raine deftly distils the novel’s dense web of subplots, encompassing Mary Garth’s quiet moral resilience and the slow, suffocating unravelling of banker Nicholas Bulstrode’s past, into a cohesive theatrical tapestry that feels both faithful to Eliot’s vision and urgently dramatic.
What elevates the storytelling beyond a mere literary condensation is the decision to place George Eliot herself directly into the action. Acting as narrator, confidante, and wryly observant counsellor, the author’s physical presence bridges the gap between her famous psychological prose and live dialogue. Rather than slowing the momentum, this device allows the audience to witness the characters' internal justifications colliding with harsh financial realities and social expectations, capturing the novel's signature blend of piercing irony and deep human sympathy. Amanda Root excels in the characterisation of the role, ensuring that the audience feels as much a part of the story as the characters.
Not a single actor in this outstanding company is a weak link; they deliver richly textured, deeply human performances that anchor the production’s emotional weight. Nia Towle portrays Dorothea Brooke with a luminous, restless earnestness that makes her disastrous marriage genuinely heartbreaking rather than merely naive, while Rory Alexander brings a vital, bohemian spark to Will Ladislaw that cuts cleanly through the town’s stuffy conventions. The romance between Dorothea and Will has you willing from deep within for their happiness. Equally compelling is the doomed domestic drama between Andrew Richardson’s Tertius Lydgate, charting his trajectory from ambitious young doctor, brimming with zeal for medical science and hospital reform, to compromised husband with devastating precision, and Emma McDonald’s magnificent Rosamond Vincy, whose porcelain poise conceals a steely, immovable self-interest.
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| Andrew Richardson as Tertius Lydgate and Emma McDonald as Rosamund Vincy. Photo by Johan Persson. |
Across the wider Middlemarch community, the cast displays remarkable versatility and tonal discipline. Delivering both heart and humour, and there's a lot more humour than I expected. Lizzie Annis shines in a deftly judged double role, effortlessly shifting from the affectionate, convention-bound pragmatism of Celia Brooke to the grounded, unsentimental warmth of Mary Garth, opposite Ebenezer Gyau’s charmingly wayward yet earnest Fred Vincy. Similarly, Ian Drysdale impresses as both the dry, brittle pedant Mr. Casaubon and the sturdy, open-hearted Caleb Garth, while Peter Forbes delivers a tour-de-force of character acting across a contrasting trio of roles, moving deftly from the bumbling, well-meaning bluster of Mr. Brooke to the cantankerous cruelty of Featherstone and the seedy menace of Raffles. Meanwhile, John Hodgkinson renders Mr. Bulstrode’s gradual descent from pious authority to cornered hypocrisy with chilling restraint. From these standout central turns down to the smallest supporting roles, the entire ensemble operates with seamless cohesion, ensuring that Middlemarch feels like a genuinely living, breathing town.
Director Jeremy Herrin and set and costume designer Grace Smart make masterful use of the Swan Theatre’s intimate thrust stage, keeping the pacing brisk and fluid across scene transitions. The production design favours an understated, atmospheric aesthetic over heavy period clutter; clean architectural lines and subtle shifts in costume evoke the constraints of nineteenth-century provincial society without bogging down the momentum. Ben Jacobs’s atmospheric lighting—carving sharp shadows and warm, candlelit pools out of the gloom—deepens the sense of Victorian scrutiny, underscoring the secrets simmering beneath the town's respectable surface. The proximity of the audience to the playing space further intensifies the claustrophobia of Middlemarch’s gossip-fueled drawing rooms, making every whispered scandal and financial negotiation feel immediate. The looming presence of a vaulted ceiling above the action is a constant reminder of the weight of the world on the characters. The whole visual design, from gowns to gorgeous lighting, is sumptuous to look at.
Paul Englishby’s evocative score adds a rich layer of texture to the production, underscoring the emotional undercurrents of Eliot’s world with remarkable subtlety. Whether performed live on the piano by Nathan Feeney or carried through the unaccompanied vocal work of the company, the music threads organically through the storytelling—swelling beneath moments of quiet heartbreak and lending a haunting, communal resonance to the town’s shifting fortunes.
Experiencing both parts back-to-back in a single day feels less like an endurance test and more like the ultimate theatrical binge-watch. Even when the exposition-heavy first part occasionally turns a touch clumpy as it establishes its sprawling web of characters and subplots, the sheer compelling momentum of the storytelling pulls you effortlessly forward. Buoyed by exquisite design and deeply human, fearless performances across the board, this production is an absorbing triumph, one that leaves you happily immersed in Eliot’s world from the first scene to the last.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Middlemarch Parts 1 and 2 run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until Saturday 16th January 2027. For tickets and more information, visit https://www.rsc.org.uk/middlemarch/
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| Nia Towle as Dorothea Brooke, Ian Drysdale as Mr Casaubon and the Company. Photo by Johan Persson. |
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