Were London Critics Impressed with Diana Rigg in Honour?

Three years ago, Joanna Murray-Smith's Honour played at the National Theatre with Eileen Atkins and Corin Redgrave. Now it is in the West End with Diana Rigg and Martin Jarvis occupying the lead roles. The show opened a limited engagement at the Wyndham's Theatre on February 14. Did critics think it was an honor to catch it?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Benedict Nightingale of The London Times: "There's nothing savage under the surface of her [Rigg's] Honor and certainly no chance of her punishing George's disloyalty by, Medea-like, killing a child who, as Georgina Rich plays her, is far more outraged than her. She gives us disbelief, disenchantment, a touch of humiliation, gallows humour and, at the end, dogged resilience; but Eileen Atkins found more in the role when she played it at the National three years ago… Somewhere inside her [Atkin's] was a dark ache that Dame Diana misses. But then neither the play nor David Grindley's production is exactly Euripidean or Strindbergian in its intensity."

Charles Spencer of The Telegraph: "Joanna Murray-Smith's Honour is a bit of a mystery--a second-rate play that somehow attracts first-rate talent… Why, one wonders, is top talent queuing up to star in what can only be described as a bog-standard mid-life crisis adultery play? There is barely a moment here that takes you by surprise, hardly a shaft of wit or glimpse of unexpected emotion… Rigg is a great actress who can plumb tremendous depths of emotion, as anyone who saw her Medea or Phedre will testify. Here she gives the impression that she finds the play unworthy of her talent. She plays Honor with a wry wit, and a nice line in pained irony, but declines to dignify this superficially drawn character with an unearned, tragic pain."

Michael Billington of The Guardian: "At the National, Eileen Atkins invested Honor with her unique brand of mordant watchfulness. Diana Rigg has similar moving moments of deep stillness. But Rigg also possesses a feisty irony that suddenly makes you aware how often Murray-Smith allows Honor the last damning word in each scene… Even more crucially, Martin Jarvis as George seems to be acting the role of a literary intellectual, where Corin Redgrave previously embodied it."

Robert Hanks of The Independent: "At her best best, Murray-Smith demonstrates a Stoppardish gift for pithily combining intelligence, wit and pathos… But the speeches never add up to convincing characters… Still, the play does offer meaty parts for the leading actors - Eileen Atkins walked off with an Olivier for playing Honor in the 2003 British premiere at the National Theatre. Diana Rigg is unlikely to repeat the trick, with a performance that errs on the side of understatement, but is still appealingly humane and gentle. Jarvis is unfortunately cast as George, never projecting enough intelligence or passion to overcome the slightly cardboard lines he is given; and while [Natascha] McElhone gives Claudia a plausibly brittle, mechanical quality, she is likewise trapped into playing a type rather than a character. Given the number of good lines, and the brevity of the piece one hour and 40 minutes, it could be the basis for an enjoyable night out. But that's not quite the same thing as a satisfying play."