BBC Radio 4
John Wilson
10 May 2013
Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse is in a rare revival on the London stage, starring John Simm and Simon Russell Beale.
Simon Russell Beale (Roote) and John Simm (Gibbs)
Writer Iain Sinclair delivers his verdict on the play about a bureaucratic mental institution run by a sadist. (00:06:05)
Listen to scene clip with John Simm as Gibbs and Iain’s review (click play button) below:
The Hothouse runs at Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall, from Saturday 4th May until Saturday 3rd August.
Tickets can be purchased online or direct from Trafalgar Studios box office. You can follow The Hothouse on Twitter.
John Simm Society Blog 
Have just seen The Hothouse and agree with the review – it is a fabulously funny but creepy play which gives you much to think about. On the way out after the performance (the third since opening night) another member of the audience was heard to complain rather loudly to the man selling programs and ice creams that “It wasn’t sinister enough” – I felt it was plenty sinister, personally! The contrast between the (very dark yet at times almost slapstick) humour and the horror of what was actually going on (interrogation, brain-washing, torture) was stark and -for me, anyway – worked perfectly. Reading a magazine on the train home I came across a leaflet for Amnesty International, which seemed a slightly spooky co-incidence!
I can’t wait to see it again, because I’m sure that I will pick up on different aspect of the play and the performances of the actors. They were all -without exception- brilliant. I’m intending to take my son, who at 19 will enjoy it I’m sure.