The Motive and the Cue

The Motive and the Cue is a play written by Jack Thorne. The production, directed by Sam Mendes, premiered on 21 April 2023 at the National Theatre in London. The play revolves around the history behind the 1964 Broadway modern-dress production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet starring Richard Burton in a production directed by Sir John Gielgud. As rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel. The original cast includes Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatiss as Gielgud, and Tuppence Middleton as Elizabeth Taylor.

Background
Mendes decided to stage the play after reading Richard L. Sterne’s John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton and William Redfield’s Letters from an Actor, with Thorne joining to write the script hoping to return to theatre.

Mendes who previously collaborated with production designer Es Devlin on The Lehman Trilogy returns as a collaborator on this production. The production runs 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Plot
The play revolves around the dynamic and tense relationship between a young, enthusiastic Richard Burton and an aging Sir John Gielgud during a 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet.

London (2023)
The play originated at the National Theatre, written by Jack Thorne, and directed by Sam Mendes, with previews opening on 21 April 2023.

West End (2023)
Following the play's success at the National Theatre, the production transferred to the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End from 9 December 2023 for a limited run until 23 March 2024. Flynn, Gatiss and Middleton reprised their roles as Burton, Gielgud and Taylor.

Reception
Critical reception for the play has been mostly positive, in particular for the leading performance of Sir John Gielgud by Mark Gatiss. In The Independent, theatre critic Jessie Thompson declared, "It’s Gatiss, as Gielgud, who owns this show. He deserves all the superlatives for a performance of restrained, quiet dignity, laced with sharp wit." The Evening Standard described the production as "elegant" and "a love letter to theatre". The Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish hailed the play as "a witty, deft, touching evocation of a fascinating, fraught encounter that captures the mood of those times". Arifa Akbar of The Guardian gave a mixed review, praising the performances but noting that "ultimately, this play-about-the-play leaves us wishing we had been there to see Burton in the real thing."