REVIEW: ⭐⭐⭐ Manhunt 📍Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
A searingly honest and sustained performance by Samuel Edward-Cook as Raoul Moat is regrettably the only redeeming feature of Robert Icke's take on a real-life manhunt.
Photo credit: Tristan Kenton
Written and directed by Robert Icke
By Hamza Jahanzeb
4 May 2025
I honestly went in to see Manhunt by Robert Icke not knowing anything about it bar the poster (heck, I was only 16 and was recently bereaved of my mother when the six-hour siege to find the killer on the run unfolded) but came out feeling unearthed, shaken to my core and on the edge of my seat in this heart-in-yer-mouth story of a man's nationwide hunt televised by the state. There was one name on every news presenter (and former PM David Cameron’s lips: Raoul Moat). Oh, and as males are now a “minority” in some quarters of society *eye roll* , the backstory of said Monster from fifteen years ago gives a glimpse into convictions of child assault, this hostage siege situation as well as a fleeting romantic relationship ending, raising suspicions of infidelity etc. Chuck into that, the bizarre addition of football legend Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne bringing beers and advice in an imagined meet-up during the stand-off between Moat, the killing of a policeman, and questioning of police’s failure towards women reinforced how this play was a brave attempt to bring a remarkable but ultimately got rather lost in doing so.
Did it really need all of those dreary, imagined dialogues?
What was the impetus to include those, if so?
It felt like there wasn’t much thought-process, which surprises me in all honesty.
At times, this play felt like ludicrous, cringe-inducing and somewhat superfluous rolled into one - despite one superb performance that kept me on the edge of my seat waiting patiently for a resolution to the demise of this man’s awful actions to the people of Northumbria and beyond the United Kingdom.
Truth be told, I'm not sure - in a creative sense - it was fully enmeshed in a seamless execution of a collective vision. Notably by a muddled book by Manhunt’s writer and director Robert Icke, who also directs lifting bits of in a style of direction straight from the Jamie Lloyd (Sunset BLVD) and Daniel Fisher (Oklahoma!) handbook. Plunging audience members into moments of darkness (ooh, scary), occasional video camera crew bringing close-ups of a face (in the smaller auditorium of the Royal Court? Really?) wasn’t quite re-inventing the wheel. A lot of productions have been and done that, mate!
Sadly, the experimental parts of the script (imagining a real life account of the football legend and killer were passable, at best giving a real A-Level drama element - no joke) and the child-iterations of Moat too didn't bring much additional depth to the story that we as an audience didn't know or readily glean. The set was interesting, with metal cells, and lots of press-ups with an overhead camera tracking and projected on the from. Now, where have I seen that I wonder? Hmm…
In terms of the actual book (there were no printed playtexts), it was a bold choice to add dialogue that imagined conversations. Someone, somewhere along the line in this development process needed to tell Icke that the story takes truly an age to unfold, and there’s only suspension of belief to be done before you’re asking too much from audiences. Some may argue that it veered too much into the sympathising of Moat’s heinous crime/s, though I would agree in that it wasn’t admonishing him enough. Instead, it placates aspects of his ‘woe is me’ mentality, for awful men in society and how hard it is to be a “man”, who is quite clearly an unpleasant person overall. Alas, this horrendous individual’s murderous actions weren’t brushed aside either. Opening the play with him reaching out for mental health services felt undercooked and started the piece on an off-kiltered note (which it remained largely for the duration of the time audiences were forced to endure the droll script).
One thing's for sure, and that is despite a flawed book (I mean, this was whereby instances of referring to the maternal not as ‘Mam’ but ‘Mum’ when the play was set up north in Northumbria) which begs to wonder whether or not an Authenticity Reader was deployed. This, coupled with a contrived (often: haphazard) direction, meant that only really outstanding part of this play was by far the performance of Moat by Sam Edward-Cook.
The energy of his last show was rather infectious (and provided some handy ad libs for Edward-Cook to the coughers of Royal Court 🙄). Ultimately, I found moments of this piece moving, quietly emotional and deeply harrowing. The breaking of the fourth wall was novel, but got increasingly irritating as it drudged on. Meanwhile, the set changed once and for a final time spraying water - but this served little-to-no purpose to the (by this point) fizzled-out drama that felt like it needed winding up.
Basically, lots of it felt like too much of a filler, and could have done with a sharp and astute edit.
The Royal Court is often referred to as the 'New Writer’s Theatre', and this proves to be the case as things often are re-worked if believed to have been deemed acceptable to a commercial mass audience. I’d only heard of Icke prior as being the person to seamlessly executed the Greek text in a recent the West End ‘Oedipus’ which won at the Olivier Awards 2025.
I note that this production was co-produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, which again reiterates that there may well be a future home for the show.
We shall see.
I do think, though, that the strong performance by Edwards-Cooks was at the very least worthy of an accolade and or recognition. He truly graced the stage as the leading actor on the piece - whose sheer believability created a true monstrous, handsome-cum-grotesque version of Moat. He not only delves into his psyche but also provides ladles of tender moments of pathos.
Does this play absolve the murderer of his crime?
Absolutely not - though it delves into masculinity and the fragility of men in our wider society and the pressures to 'be a man'. It left me thinking how we can help men, and to smash the venom of patriarchy that - as the lead proclaims - 'causes death in young men'. It provided me lots to think about in relation to custody, men’s role in society and how over the last century there's been a real which is what you'd want from a gripping piece of theatre. With some major tweaking, I reckon it that it could well be West End ready - though I’m not sure the Regional theatres would be leaping to see something so close to the bone despite the events occurring less than two decades ago.
Hamza Jahanzeb
For transparency’s sake, I saw the last performance of Manhunt at the Royal Court on 3 May 2025.
* disclaimer: this aforementioned review is the opinion of the author only, and the ticket in this instance was paid for and was not a complimentary ticket *