Judi Dench in West End stinker

Judi Dench (right) and Rosamund Pike on stage together in the West End was supposed to be a big attraction. Sadly, it seems their new play, Madame De Sade, which opened on Wednesday night at the Wyndhams Theatre, is a big let-down.

While the critics have generally praised the cast, the costumes and the stage sets, they are united in the opinion that the director, Michael Grandage, a man who is said to be able to turn any old script into theatrical gold, has a turkey on his hands.

In the Independent, Michael Coveney awards it just two stars, saying the production is for masochists only, while the Guardian’s Michael Billington says simply: “The acting and staging are breathtaking but the play itself is an example of the Higher Tosh.”

Dame Judi plays the mother-in-law of the infamous Marquis De Sade. She initially tries to free him from jail but then has a change of heart when she discovers the unspeakable acts he has performed on her daughter -  played by Pike - during a trip to Venice.

Benedict Nightingale in the Times gives it only two stars, writing: “It’s lead, gilded lead, highly decorated lead, but still lead.” He is also upset at the lack of graphic sensationalism, particularly concerning Pike’s character. “True, she must also dangle from a chandelier while a boy licks off the blood and urine caused by a man with a long, black whip like a swallow,” he writes, “but that occurs safely offstage.”

The author of Madame De Sade, the Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima, will not be committing hari kari over the reviews. He did that already, in 1970, disembowelling himself in front of an audience of 100 friends. ·