HomeRocket To The Moon reviews

Angus Jackson’s atmospheric, moody production maintains our interest thanks to a particularly compelling performance from Joseph Millson, who is one of the most versatile and interesting stage actors around today. He has leading man stature - as demonstrated by his beautiful comic turn as Benedick in the RSC’s last Much Ado About Nothing - but he also has a rare quality of being able to animate blank, underwritten characters like Raoul in the original production of Love Never Dies (and he can hold a note, too). Here, he ideally captures an apparently settled man, resigned to his life and fate, the foundations of whose life are so powerfully shaken. The Stage

Millson makes Ben a compelling study in henpecked decency and self-forbidden desire, a man who tortures himself by watching the woman of his dreams date others. Evening Standard

Joseph Millson gives a brave performance as an archetypal dullard, allowing those around him to deliver all of the fireworks. British Theatre Guide

Millson, straight from playing alcoholic gambler Raoul in Love Never Dies, is a deliciously awkward dentist whose expressions – never quite smiling, never quite frowning, face an ever-shifting treacle of emotion – present a man who, after so many years of disinterest, doesn’t really know how to live any more. Official London Theatre

Joseph Millson also captures exactly the shy, goofily smiling tentativeness of the dentist who is afraid of total commitment. The Guardian

Raine's tour de force has a clever foil in Joseph Millson, who makes the dentist – a cavity as far as personality goes – into a skilful portrait of weakness. The Observer

For all that, Rocket to the Moon is winningly humorous and poignant too, with Ben's repressed desperation beautifully conveyed. The Independent

Joseph Millson plays the irritatingly indecisive Ben in mid-life crisis with fully believable self-conflict... ...Rocket to the Moon does not represent Odets at his best but nonetheless by the end you feel that you have been on a journey with the characters. Exeunt Magazine

Millson is terrific as the seemingly ineffectual Stark. He has perfected the art of a nervous smile and curled top lip. The only problem is one of plausibility: it simply doesn’t make sense that he doesn’t have any patients: why aren’t people queueing up to be drilled and filled by such an easy-on-the-eye practitioner? All fears of lying in a dentist’s chair exposing ones cavities would quickly be assuaged by the charming Mister Millson. If novocaine seemed to have been injected into the opening moments it soon wears off and Angus Jackson’s production builds gently to become very engaging. The cast are all rather good. Hawes makes an impressive stage debut and sports her striking millinery with aplomb. Millson and Raine are outstanding. The set by Anthony Ward, effectively lit by Mark Henderson, is agreeably convincing witrain in the last scene, though the period detail of the surgery is only tantalisingly visible through blinds. Frustrating. All very polished. West End Whingers