The Letter

The Letter. Lyric Hammersmith.
With Joanna Lumley, Neil Stacey, Benedict Wong.

Now observe Tim Pigott-Smith as the lawyer. Maugham’s writing suggests merely a decent chap in a sticky situation; Tim Pigott-Smith turns this into a study of honour under siege. He places his pauses menacingly, as if they were anti-personnel mines; then his veneer cracks apart to reveal a ratty sense of insecurity and racial condescension. And yet you feel that Tim Pigott-Smith is enriching a flat text rather than drawing sustenance from it.
John Peter/Sunday Times