Ruth Leon pans Martin Guerre revival at the Old Vic

Ruth Leon has delivered a blunt verdict on the new revival of Martin Guerre at the Old Vic Theatre, opening her review with a single question: "My first question is, Why?"

The production, directed by Matthew Warchus, revisits the 1990s musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Leon's review was published on Slippedisc under her "Pocket Theatre" banner on 13 October 2026.

What did the creators change?

According to Leon, Boublil and Schönberg have "reimagined [it] for the London stage with new music, new lyrics, new folk-inflected orchestrations and a thrilling new In The Round staging." Her response: "Er, again, why?"

Leon names the show's lineage directly. It comes from the same stable as Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, but "has never been in the same league musically or lyrically." That gap, in her view, makes the revival a puzzling choice for Warchus, the Old Vic's artistic director. The show, she writes, "was always dark. Now it's dark and impenetrable."

What is the story?

The plot, Leon concedes, is strong. A young man in a French village, horrified at being forced to marry, runs away after the ceremony and joins the army. Seven years pass. He returns, welcomed by the wife he abandoned and the rest of the village. The dramatic engine is simple: is the man who comes back the same man who left?

That premise, she suggests, deserves better than the treatment it receives.

What goes wrong on stage?

Leon's catalogue of complaints is specific:

• Costumes are "unrelieved black." The lighting is dim.
• The in-the-round staging means principals "are inevitably singing with their backs to most of the audience."
• Most of the lyrics are incomprehensible, from principals and chorus alike.
• The choreography is "mostly stamping in a circle."
• There is "not a single joke or even a smile."

She also questions the visual design, asking of the black-clad cast's "strange white patches on their faces": "Grand Guinol very manque?"

How does the verdict land?

Leon's summary is unsparing. "The entire production is dark and miserable," she writes. "If you weren't depressed when you arrived at the Old Vic you sure will be when you leave."

Her closing line doubles as advice to the creative team: "Back to the rehearsal room, folks. If you must."

The review is one voice, not a consensus. But it lands early in the run, from a critic writing for a readership of opera and theatre followers who know the Boublil-Schönberg catalogue intimately. Box office and broader critical reception in the coming weeks will show whether Warchus's gamble on a reimagined Martin Guerre can survive its first, sharply negative notice.