The Donmar Warehouse is just at the half-way stage in their star-studded residency at The Wyndhams Theatre. With such a high-profile schedule, we thought we’d take a little peek at what the critics are writing about the run so far…

The season started with the a rather sensational version of Chekov’s Ivanov. Starring everyone’s favourite Shakespearean sirrah, Kenneth Branagh, Ivanov attracted some rather astounding praise. Michael Billington certainly got a little bit gushy and weird when he reviewed the play for The Guardian last year. After bestowing five stars upon Tom Stoppard’s revision of Chekov’s often-overlooked gem, Billington even went as far as to admit: “Branagh here touches the soul in a way I’ve not seen him do before.”

Blimey. Someone fancies Ken.

Juvenile silliness aside, Branagh really shook up the West End nay-sayers with his dazzling performance as the eponymous Ivanov. Paul Taylor from the Independent described Branagh’s performance as displaying “extraordinary perceptiveness and human breadth”. There’s no two ways about it: it looks like Shakespeare’s loveable Shih Tzu gave Chekov a fine going over and whipped up a little excitement in the process.

The hype that surrounded Branagh’s performance was not just to celebrate a popular actor’s return to the West End. The whole point of the Donmar’s high-profile residence at the Wyndhams was to rejuvenate a London theatre scene grown old and cold and weary on big-budget musicals and ’showy’ theatre starring Hollywoodland’s hunkiest heartthrobs. With (supposedly) cut-price tickets for first class plays, the philanthropic leanings of the producers at the Donmar aimed to show just how powerful, relevant and real theatre could be in a 21st century winter stuck in an ever-intensifying recession.

A quarter of the way through and, thanks largely to Branagh’s powerhouse performance, those cats at the Donmar look dangerously close to pulling this thing off.

Of course, one is only as good as one’s last performance so we probably better focus on the latest reviews from the Donmar’s second offering at the Wyndhams: Twelfth Night.

Starring a little someone called Derek Jacobi, this wee comic ditty from a barely-known bardic scribbler is also causing quite a stir amongst critics. Words like ‘impressive’ and ’spellbinding’ are being banded around from the Times and the Telegraph like they’re going out of fashion. Billington was up to his old tricks again: “The production delights the eye, and shows Jacobi at his very best.” Crumbs! Isn’t one Shakespearean luminary enough for you, Billington?

No, sorry, again we slip into schoolboy silliness.

The upshot is that Jacobi’s ‘Malvolio’ is seemingly another triumph from the boys at the Donmar. Renaissance Illyria is transported from the coasts of the Adriatic to the roaring 1920s in Grandage’s esteemed production and, by all accounts, it’s another hit. Superbly realised, deftly acted, cool and original; halfway through the run, it looks like the residency at the Wyndhams is turning out to be a great big, shinny hit!

And let’s look at what’s coming up…

Well, first off there’s Dame Judi Dench appearing in a translation of the acclaimed Japanese play The Madame De Sade. Not usually known for being anything shy of brilliant, Dame Judi’s run at the Wyndham’s is probably set to be the most bankable production of the lot. And then, well, and then there’s Jude Law in Hamlet.

A rather considerable dreamboat, Jude is bound to attract a fairly sizeable audience on the back of his good-looks alone. However, in the right circumstances, I maintain that the kid can certainly act. Does anyone remember the film Wilde with Stephen Fry? Excellent wasn’t it? Well, second only to Fry’s unforgettable Oscar was Jude Law’s Bosey. Simply perfect as the youthful Lord Alfred Douglas, Jude Law was outstanding. Outstanding.

You don’t believe me get down to Blockbusters. Fact.

We’ll have to see how the run pans out I suppose but, as an artistic endeavour, it certainly seems like the Donmar have really pulled this one off. Fingers crossed they don’t go all silly and put this good work to waste…