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PREVIEWS
monstagigz.com – 19 April 2019
Ann’s brother George (an impressive Oliver Johnstone) arrives and the scene is set for secrets to be revealed on a day that the family will never forget.
maryamphilpottblog – 22 April 2019
Equally her brother George, played extremely well by Oliver Johnstone, has the most dramatic scene, full of rage and injustice as he sweeps in determined to rectify the past. Also a war veteran, Johnstone implies a slight limp, and uses his small but pivotal role to reinforce the loss of innocence that Miller is writing about in this Eden-like garden, where George is tempted for a few seconds by the warmth of the Keller family and his own long departed memory of childhood happiness.
PRESS NIGHT
theguardian.com 4 stars – 23 April 2019
As her lawyer brother, Oliver Johnstone also precisely shows a hunger for revenge on the Keller family melting under the influence of their hospitality.
standard.co.uk 4 stars – 24 April 2019
Oliver Johnstone’s George is a mix of fidgety misfit and crusader.
whatsonstage.com 5 stars – 24 April 2019
They all are beautifully depicted, from Oliver Johnstone’s angry George, full of angular disappointment and a desire for revenge, that softens when he sees his childhood sweetheart Lydia (Bessie Carter, wonderful) and realises that dream of happiness is also lost. The moment where he straightens his tie and she shakes her head sadly as Kate says they should have married, is an entire story in a second.
theartsdesk.com – 24 April 2019
Likewise, a powerful Oliver Johnstone (George) injects some much-needed passion into the proceedings. He rides the turmoil of his emotions.
stagedoorapp.com – 24 April 2019
There is good work too from Oliver Johnstone as Ann’s brother, George, the messenger bearing bad news.
theatrecat.com 4 stars – 24 April 2019
The remorseless tide runs on: below the courtship of Annie and Chris, through moments of laughter, neatly unfolding back-story and the arrival of Annie’s brother as avenging and accusing angel, yet one with a moment’s touching vulnerability – Oliver Johnstone does it marvellously – as he almost succumbs to the charm of an old neighbourhood and Joe’s comforting manliness.
This is my favourite so far: thestage.co.uk – 24 April 2019
There’s also a fantastically nervy, agitated performance from Oliver Johnstone as Ann’s brother George. “There’s blood in his eyes”, one character says of him, and Johnstone makes you believe it.
independent.co.uk 3 stars – 24 April 2019
As Ann’s brother George, who believes he has discovered the truth about Joe, Oliver Johnstone arrives after the interval to inject urgency just when it needs it.
broadwayworld.com 4 stars – 24 April 2019
There’s also a shattering moment between Oliver Johnstone’s stirringly intense George – torn between two persuasive father figures, and between the lure of “home” and a difficult but just path – as he encounters his childhood sweetheart Lydia (a luminous Bessie Carter), and the pair flash back to what was and what might have been.
hollywoodreporter.com – 24 April 2019
Even when Ann’s brother George (Oliver Johnstone) arrives with his wrecking ball, it’s not long before the Kellers have brought him back into line with promises of work and love. […] Each of the principals delivers. Johnstone, on recalling how he finally believed his father’s innocence, brings an outraged energy to the second act.
londontheatre1.com 4 stars – 25 April 2019
Ann and her brother George (the excellent Oliver Johnstone), also a returning soldier, believe their father is guilty and have alienated themselves from him since his conviction three years previous. Two thirds into the drama this belief is refuted, and George now seeks justice for his father and for all the soldiers who were killed in the war.
The Observer 4 stars – 28 April 2019
It is only through George, Ann’s jumpily intense lawyer brother (excellent Oliver Johnstone) who turns up like an unhappy waxwork about to melt, that we learn why 121 faulty cylinder heads were sent on from Joe Keller’s shop to fighter jets and why Ann and George’s father, one of Joe’s workers, is still in the penitentiary.
Oliver Johnstone Actor 