There is plenty to savour, though, in Jeremy Herrin’s production and the excellent cast’s delivery. Rachael Stirling is horribly good as the egocentric TV producer, while Rupert Penry-Jones squirms and sulks enjoyably as Carl and Joseph Millson has lovely comic timing as Daniel. -
Sarah Hemming at Financial Times
Her treatment of Daniel – a delicious study by the ever-excellent Joseph Millson of a kindly, rather anal gay man – is a painfully funny mix of presumptuous intimacy and anthropological cluelessness. -
Paul Taylor at The Independent
Millson came off best as sympathetic, lonely Daniel, whose dalliance with Adam (an under-used Nick Blood) ends in disaster when he only wants to hug and talk, rather than screw around.
But if the conceit is unoriginal, its familiarity works to the comedy's advantage. Fairly hopeless Kate (Jessica Hynes), who has organized the gathering at a renovated priory in the middle of nowhere, observes to architect Daniel (pin-sharp Joseph Millson) that this isn't going to be a big drunken party: "A few friends. People we like. No craziness." But her statement clearly is so far off the mark, it sets up an amused ripple of anticipation.
The mysterious presence of a dark-hooded man outside turns out to be a prospective pick-up for Kate’s best friend, Daniel (Joseph Millson, deliciously cast against type), a gay architect with a reported skill for designing door handles.
Hynes and Joseph Millson, as Daniel – who feels similarly pushed aside, his lifestyle deemed somehow less valid by his friends – who come across as whole, rounded human beings, people it’s possible to care about.
...this is an amusing evening, performed with verve and polish by Hynes, Joseph Millson as her gay friend, and the rest of Jeremy Herrin's fine cast.
Kate Bassett at The Independent
Variously starring Rupert Penry-Jones as washed up actor Carl, the rather lovely Joseph Millson as gay architect Daniel and Jessica Hynes in a rather Norman Conquests-esque turn as writer Kate, who booked the house back in the spring when still with boyfriend Matthew, Wynne takes a sharp, clever look at the way pretentious, middle-class professionals behave and speak.
The writing sparkled, as did the acting - there isn't a weak link in this group. Millson came off best as sympathetic, lonely Daniel, whose dalliance with Adam (an under-used Nick Blood) ends in disaster when he only wants to hug and talk, rather than screw around.
Jeremy Herrin directs a stellar cast, ensuring a caustic realism pervades as this perceptive comedy becomes inexorably bleaker...
...Joseph Millson’s Daniel has a dry charm, while iPhone-obsessed, self-involved Ben (Alastair Mackenzie) and damp-squib Carl (Rupert Penry-Jones) - an unhappily married, resting actor who works in a garden centre - complete the unprepossessing party.
Hynes’ Kate, a character in turmoil after the death of her mother and a miscarriage, is relying heavily on “best friend” Daniel, a willowy gay architect played with quivering sensitivity by Joseph Millson, who weakens momentarily with the intrusion of a local, non-monastic pick-up (Nick Blood)
Jeremy Herrin’s direction is admirably sharp, and the performances are strong. Charlotte Riley is an enjoyably ghastly Laura, while Joseph Millson’s Daniel is winningly mannered...
Joseph Millson is excellent as her gay chum who drools over an internet date who suddenly turns up, and then panics that the boy has robbed him.
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