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Reviews
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Click on a reviewer's name for full review
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"Hydrocracker turns the business world into intriguing and gripping theatre...
The cast of four, led by Pip Donaghy and James Wilby, is terrific; the swerves of
their dialogue intrigue and grip; the crisp staging against Agnes Treplin's
gleamingly Modernist set keeps the tension high. Even the scene-changes are exciting
with their jabs of light and rattles of machinery... (Donaghy gives) a riveting
performance...If it becomes hard to believe anyone like Donaghy's James
actually exists, the insights into the dark mysteries of his craft remain fascinating."
Jeremy Kingston, The Times
 (no website link: The Times is subscription only) |
"Brighton's Hydrocracker company makes its London debut with this lively
new play by Neil Fleming... Fleming is at his best when he writes about the mechanics
of external expertise... Fleming offers some sharply funny satire on business waffle
and is shrewd enough to suggest that consultants occasionally expose the gentlemanly
amateurism of the commercial sector... Geoff Church's production is also vigorously
acted by a strong cast. Pip Donaghy as the maniacal James, Helen Millar as his seductive
sidekick, James Wilby as the nervy executive and Sian Webber as his strong-minded
spouse put flesh on Fleming's argument that we live in a credulous age in which
management consultants are treated with a superstitious awe once reserved for alchemists
and astrologers."
Michael
Billington, The Guardian
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Hugo Shackleton is a man in trouble.
And the trouble is: he doesn't even know it.
Chief of a struggling hi-tech company,
hounded by competitors, despised by his
own Board of Directors, he needs a Big Idea
to turn his business around.
Except if he comes up with one his wife will leave him.
Into their world rolls James Ross, a charismatic management consultant with a dark
past, wheelchair-bound, furious with all mankind, and brilliant.
With him comes Nicola Patchett,
ferocious strategy analyst, member of Mensa,
and a threat to Hugo's marriage of another kind.
James promises Hugo he can change him forever.
But once you sign up
with The Consultant, he never leaves.
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"Entertaining and genuinely funny, thanks in no small part to the central pairing
of James Wilby and Pip Donaghy .. who both give excellent performances... Beautifully
staged on Agnes Treplin’s set .. Fleming has an ear for dialogue and dissects the
meaningless jargon of the corporate world - 'paradigm shifts' and 'metrics
embedded in workflow' - with real sharpness and flair."
Alistair Smith, The Stage
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"Fleming is a lively, pleasingly cynical writer... (Pip) Donaghy is a modern-day
Satan, slithering around on his wheels and spitting out words like poisoned darts
...His assistant, Nicola (Helen Millar), has an equally sinister sheen, eyes bulging
as she looks for her next victim... the sharpest scenes are between downtrodden
Hugo (James Wilby) and his fiendishly clever wife, Claire (Sian Webber).
Miriam Gillinson, Time Out
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"A completely gelled work where all the elements are not only precisely timed,
minimally decorated and clearly focused but also based on a stunning theme that
holds the breath with its twists and turns of significance. "
Blanche Marvin
 (No website link) |
“'What do you want?' The Consultant, by Neil Fleming, is a droll and thought-provoking exploration of this fundamental question, led by charismatic
Consultant, James Ross (Pip Donaghy)...The script is a testament to Neil
Fleming's considered approach and experience of the environment so well rendered
in the play. The Consultant is an all round accomplished production and
Theatre503 is a fantastic venue in which to house such an engaging work."
Vanessa
Bunn, ExtraExtra.org |
"A thoroughly enjoyable and witty production, with excellent, thought-provoking
performances from all cast members."
Lexie Morris, ThePublicReviews.com 
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View production photos here
View rehearsal photos here
Read Neil Fleming's consulting blog in The Guardian
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James Wilby James Wilby (Maurice, Regeneration, Gosford Park)
and Pip Donaghy (An Inspector Calls, Blasted) head the cast for this
disturbingly funny re-appraisal of the world of consultancy.
Olivier-Award winning Theatre503
continues its commitment to new writers with the world premiere of
Neil Fleming’s Faustian tale for the age of austerity.
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With many thanks to Dramatic Resources and Morris Graham for sponsorship
and to Maynard Leigh Associates and Jerwood Space for subsidised rehearsal space.
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