"She also elicits from her cast verse speaking of the highest clarity, not least from Joseph Millson, who has already triumphantly proved in this season's Much Ado that he is handy with an iambic pentameter.

Millson, who is surely going to be a big name, revels in the ambiguous role of Philip the Bastard. As he grows in patriotic sentiment, his vowels shift from flat to rounded, but mellifluous speech alone cannot drown out the alarm bells the conclusion sounds, that this essentially unknowable man has been left as the power behind the throne of young King Henry III."

Evening Standard (London)    Aug 4, 2006 by  Fiona Mountford

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"But if this production cannot be judged a total success, there are still some fine things in it, chief among them another terrific turn by Joseph Millson in the plum role of Faulconbridge the Bastard, the precursor of later characters such as Jacques, characters who stand both inside and outside the action and who, in their inconsistencies and contradictions, are unmistakeably creatures of flesh and blood. The performance of the play I saw started hesitantly and Millson at first also seemed uncharacteristically muted. But he soon finds his voice to deliver a powerful performance which ably charts his character's rise from awkward arriviste to English lion, the man whom in many ways embodies national virtues. But Millson, as anyone who saw him in the recent Spanish Golden Age season will know, is as adept at handling comedy as he is ardour, and he duly makes the most of such lines as: "I was never so bethumped with words"."

British Theatre Guide 2006 by Pete Wood

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Millson stars in the latest King John at Stratford with Richard McCabe in the title role and it’s riveting. Millson’s Faulconbridge is one of those magnetic interpretations that suggests that this young actor is destined for great heights. See him soon if you can."

The Actuary October 2006

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It has a crowd-engaging central character in Philip Faulconbridge, the supposed illegitimate son of Richard the Lionheart (that is, John's nephew), but actually Shakespeare's own invention. Joseph Millson's expansive, high-energy performance ensures that he is by far the play's most vivid character.

Though at first sight a scheming chancer, Faulconbridge ultimately proves a kind of swashbuckling Robin Hood surrogate, who in the closing scene is entrusted with handing the crown to the nine-year-old Henry III and speaking the final, pageant-like line: "Nothing shall make us rue/If England to itself do rest but true." "

Birmingham Post  Aug 7 2006 By Terry Grimley

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Joseph Millson draws everything from the role of Philip Faulconbridge; friend to John. It’s a great acting role, chance for bluster, comedy, high passion and quiet sensitivity. Millson doesn’t miss a trick.

Reviewsgate  by Rod Dungate Aug 2006

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Joseph Millson seizes gratefully on the show-stealing role of the Bastard, starting out as a bumptious opportunist and gradually becoming the conscience of a troubled nation.

The Guardian Michael Billington August 2005

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One strange thing about Shakespeare's King John is that neither of the two people who most ardently claim our attention is the title role. The Bastard Faulconbridge leaps right out of the play and into our hearts with his mixture of virile charm and interior reflectiveness: he's modern.

In the new Royal Shakespeare Company production, the Bastard and Constance are taken by Joseph Millson and Tamsin Greig, who are currently starring as Benedick and Beatrice in the company's sell-out Much Ado about Nothing: and all the roles have been cast with able actors. Millson does more than previous Bastards of my experience to show how the Bastard changes during the play (though I think he is wrong to make him rustic and ungainly at the start of the play)

Alistair Macaulay FT August 2006 

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The cast give stellar performances - particularly Joseph Millson who plays the pivotal role of The Bastard. Millson’s witty and energetic performance reflects his masterly, yet fundamentally innocent character.

Sandy Holt The Stage August 2006