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Precious is a new-style weepie but one that is much more bracing than depressing
Precious
Theatre
Ian McKellen is captivating throughout. He delights in the play’s gallows humour, yet is also maudlin and poignant
Waiting for Godot
Theatre
Slight quibbles notwithstanding, this will set the West End’s stock riding high
Enron
Utterly, utterly brilliant. You really are in for a treat
Though 'Trilogy' has won rave reviews, I personally found myself exasperated after about an hour
We went on a quiet sunday evening and the food was excellent, but the experience let down by the service and ambiance
London,
Nicholas de Jongh's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Wilson Milam.
Cast: Christian Slater, Helen Baxendale, Matt Smith, Elizabeth Croft, Arthur Darvill, Mark Edel-Hunt, Jonathan Newth, Fanos Xenofos
Description: A new stage version, written by Michael Lesslie, of George Huang's cult film about the ruthless world of Hollywood, with Christian Slater starring as powerful film producer Buddy Ackerman. Directed by Wilson Milam.
Trains: Tube/BR: Charing Cross 
Phone: 0870890 0511
Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com
Angelic bad boy: Christian Slater as the depraved bully Buddy and Helen Baxendale as a film producer in Swimming With Sharks at the Vaudeville
Battle of wills: Slater plays Buddy Ackerman, a depraved, misogynistic and outrageous film producer trying to outmanoeuvre Baxendale's insipid Dawn Lockard
Do you enjoy being shocked by barefaced immorality? Do you feel the urge to be exposed to visions of the twilight world of the Hollywood movie-making industry, where there always seems to be as much sex, lies and violence behind the cameras as in front of them?
People able to give a big yes to both these questions will be pleasured by Swimming With Sharks, in which an exuberant Christian Slater plays Buddy Ackerman, a depraved, misogynistic and outrageous film producer at Keystone Productions who would argue good taste is a matter best left to cooks.
Those of us who have supped full to the point of indigestion on a diet of sensationalising films and plays that delve into Hollywood immoralities and emerge with a moral message will be fascinated by something else. The business of film-making in Los Angeles is presented as a cross between a poker and chess game.
The play's fascinating battle of wills and wiles is centred on Buddy's psychologically shrewd campaign to wrest control of Afghan Incident, a politically motivated film script which he contemptuously rejects from Helen Baxendale's insipid independent film producer, Dawn Lockard. Having learned Keystone's policy has changed from making trashy movies to serious ones, he back-tracks.
Slater, good at playing angelic-looking bad-boys or rebels, cannot discover Buddy's malignity. He does not peddle a convincing line in wickedness, looks too young and wholesome. Voice often maintained a few decibels below a monotonous yell of abuse, eyes rarely engaging with his victims, Slater permits Buddy no gradations in his bullying rudeness, no light and shade, none of the brooding quiet or sinister menace that ought to precede his eruptions. His Ackerman never made me shiver in revulsion.
Swimming With Sharks, which ranks as a black comedy-thriller and sports rancid language and insults rescued from the gutter, has been taken by Michael Lesslie from George Huang's script for the famous Nineties movie of the same name.
Dick Bird's glass-doored, white-sofa design sets the expensive scene. The interesting idea, not well developed in Wilson Milam's slow-moving, jerky production, is to show how Matt Smith's dashingly comic and eloquently put-upon idealist, Guy - would-be film producer and script-writer - is exploited and corrupted by Buddy while battling to produce the film himself. Having fallen in love with Dawn, Guy, humiliated as Ackerman's abused assistant, becomes a crucial pawn in Buddy's plan to secure Afghan Incident.
The climactic settling of scores between this trio, in an encounter teetering on melodrama's verge and then falling headlong into it, invites disbelief. Smith, a superb young actor, would need to show earlier signs of emotional disturbance for the scene to work.
Guy's final, ironic ascendancy at Keystone Productions suggests that in Hollywood you can get away with murder and that women producers and executives are regarded as contemptible, easily expendable commodities. Maybe so, but you need better arguments and plotting than provided in Swimming With Sharks for this thriller to be taken seriously.
• Information 0870 890 0511. Booking to 19 January.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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I went to see this wonderful play on Tuesday night and can easily say that it's one of the best productions I've ever seen in the West End. The acting was fantastic (particularly Slater and his assistant - Guy), the production and set design were inspired and the direction was possibly the best I've ever seen. They all deserve awards. I was absolutely hooked and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I haven't seen the film to compare it to, but thought that this was absolutely superlative.
Those of you who thought that it was anything less should maybe stick to your Josephs and Sound of Music...
- Liz, London
Swimming with Sharks is the most refreshing play in the West End and really deserves to do well. The hierarchies of the Hollywood office reflect common working conditions we’ve all endured. Who hasn’t had a tyrannical boss or colleagues that backstab? Just today I have been tempted to pour coffee on the CEO when he decided today was not a sugar day! This play is gripping and thoroughly entertaining and it is great to see Christian Slater back in the West End.
- Nicola, Wimbledon, London
I haven't seen the film and don't think I can be bothered to. I was really looking forward to seeing the play as I had seen Slater in One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest which was superb, but all I can say is I wish my friends and I had continued with our pre theatre dinner and skipped the play. The scenes didn't flow particularly well, you could tell the actors preferred some scenes to others and the play came to a fairly abrupt end with a nonsense conclusion only because the build up to that moment (not giving the plot away) had not had previous subtle undertones to lead us up to Guy's flip out. Another problem was the cast just seemed shout in monotone throughout the whole play...and phoney American accents grate on your ears - just cast Americans or throw in some Brit accents. In summary - it was hard to tell whether the script was bad, the actors were under-rehearsed or didn't gel or whether it comes down to it was just not my kind of play. Oh and last minute.com - lose the Q+A sessions after the play, that was just embarrassing for cast (it seemed) and audience alike. I'd give it a 3 out of 10, very boring.
- Candice Mcdonald, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England
This is just the kind of thing the West End needs more of. If you're fed up with the diet of musicals and greatest hits compilations currently on offer then this witty, fast paced, well acted gem is just perfect. There's enough here to keep you entertained throughout and watching Slater and Baxendale is a treat. The set looks expensive but also looks great. The ending whilst admittedly a little shouty does serve up a satisfying conclusion. Three stars is harsh, 4.5 for me.
- Bittu Kaushal, London, England
Maybe Mr Spacey could do a few shows, just to show Christian Slater how it is done... The movie was superb.
- L Jones, Bromley, UK
I actually went to see the play last night and thought it was brilliant. The film script used in the play was actually called the Afgani Incident.
- Anon, London
