Name: An Enemy of the People
Start: 2024-02-06
End: 2024-04-13
Location: Duke of York's Theatre

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An Enemy of the People - LON [14324] 

Genre: Play

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An Enemy of the People

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An Enemy of the People - Hero

An Enemy of the People - LON [14324] Product Media

Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Matt Smith and Jessica Brown Findlay.

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Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Jessica Brown Findlay

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Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Matt Smith and Nigel Lindsay

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Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Matt Smith

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Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Paul Hilton

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Production shot of An Enemy of the People in London, featuring Priyanga Burford

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Born in Northampton in 1982, Matt Smith is an award-winning actor.. He joined the National Youth Theatre, and went on to study drama and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. From 2003, he played in stage productions such as The History Boys, Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship and Swimming with Sharks. He gained critical acclaim in That Face&nbsp;at the <a href="/theatres/royal-court-theatre">Royal Court</a> in 2007, which transferred to the <a href="/theatres/duke-of-yorks-theatre">Duke of York's Theatre</a> the following year.

In 2013, he played Patrick Bateman in&nbsp;American Psycho&nbsp;alongside <a href="/actor-profile/jonathan-bailey">Jonathan Bailey</a> at the <a href="/theatres/almeida-theatre">Almeida Theatre</a>. More recently, he's been in&nbsp;Unreachable&nbsp;at the Royal Court, and starred alongside&nbsp;The Crown&nbsp;co-star Claire Foy in Lungsat the <a href="/theatres/old-vic-theatre">Old Vic</a>.

Outside of theatre, he best known for his star role as the Eleventh Doctor in BBC series Doctor Who, taking over the role from <a href="/actor-profile/david-tennant">David Tennant</a>. Smith played the Doctor from 2010 - 2014.&nbsp;

Matt Smith - LON

Lungs [16828]

Lungs

Lungs [16828] Product Media

Playwrights often sit down to ambitiously write a play that aims to answer life's big questions. In Duncan Macmillan's drama <a href="/show/lungs">Lungs</a>, he aims to answer little questions in a big way, which mean the absolute world to its central characters.Those characters are just a pretty normal, nameless couple. He, played by <a href="/actor-profile/matt-smith">Matt Smith</a>, is a gigging musician while she, played by Claire Foy, is a PhD student. Together&nbsp;they wrestle through their conversations with whether they should bring a baby into a world which is declining at the hands of climate change, initially doing so where most big debates begin, waiting in a queue.While it is usually simple to separate an actor from their previous roles, it proves slightly trickier to do so for the first 20 minutes as Foy and Smith, who portrayed the Queen and Prince Philip in the first two series of The Crown, bicker and ponder over their relationship as they did in the series. But as Smith employs some of the lackadaisical demeanour he injected into the young Duke of Edinburgh, Foy shines with her character's fizzy brain sparking off in all directions.Smith feels like a supporting player to Foy's performance. She drives Matthew Warchus' sharp, snappy production with brilliant timing, the entire time teetering on the edge of belly-laugh comedy and heart-wrenching tragedy.There's a pace to the text that is reflected in Warchus' direction. He packs their entire relationship into one play, and it's stripped into an 80-minute snapshot that flashes before your eyes. Played in the round, Foy and Smith spend much in perfect symmetry: when there is harmony in their relationship, they are perfect reflections of each other.But the couple's story takes twists and turns over a dramatic final half-hour, satisfyingly picking apart two people who have never seemed to quite click. You've never got the impression these two are made for each other, but unfortunately, as the play plummets its unhappy albeit correct ending, it falls back on giving the manipulative, reprehensible male character a redemption speech he is entirely undeserving of. It's the only part of the play that feels formulaic, but it also feels lazy.That should take nothing away from Foy's excellent emotive performance, though. As her brain spirals of into tangents - Smith hardly able to get a word in edgeways - she makes it seem totally natural and flowing.Like any theatre, <a href="/show/lungs">Lungs</a>&nbsp;is a play you witness differently depending on your experience. If you're young or contemplating parenthood, then you will leave the Old Vic with a million questions about yourself flying through your head: should you have kids? Should you finally quit your job and go travelling? Are you actually a good person? But if you've been through it all already, you'll recognise two people making mountains out of molehills, who don't yet realise that, in the grand scheme of things, those little things don't matter.<a href="/show/lungs">Lungs</a> is at the <a href="/theatres/old-vic-theatre">Old Vic</a> until 9th November.<a href="/show/lungs">Lungs tickets</a> are available now.&nbsp;Photo by Helen Maybanks

Review - Lungs starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith at The Old Vic

The Old Vic, originally named the Royal Coburg Theatre, was designed in 1818 by Rudolph Cabanel. Its name was later changed to the Royal Victoria Theatre, then the Royal Victoria Hall, before it took on its nickname of 'The Old Vic' as its official name in 1925. 

The Old Vic has housed acclaimed performances with such celebrated actors as John Gielgud’s *Hamlet*, Laurence Olivier’s *Macbeth* and *Othello* in 1937, and Judi Dench’s Juliet in *Romeo and Juliet*, which was privately performed for The Queen in 1957.

In 1963, the Old Vic became the home base of the [National Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/national-theatre) of Great Britain during its formation under Laurence Olivier. The theatre continued to host the National Theatre until the move to South Bank in 1976. 

There are two entrances to the Old Vic: one on The Cut and the other on Waterloo Road, which is an accessible entrance. In 2019, 'Penny', an accessible basement cafe and bar was opened, offering drinks, sandwiches and snacks. 

## Old Vic Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels - Stalls, Dress Circle, and the Lilian Baylis Circle.

Despite the Dress Circle overhang, this doesn’t affect the view due to pillars. There is also a staggered rake that will be noticeable from row J to allow better viewing.

The Lilian Baylis Circle is high above the ground and overhangs the Dress Circle at row C meaning row E will miss the top of the stage. There are also standing seats available at the sides of this circle.

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Old Vic

The Duke Of York’s Theatre opened as the Trafalgar Square Theatre in 1892.The playhouse received its current name three years later in 1895, in honour of the future King George V. 

Famous productions to play at the Duke Of York’s Theatre include David Belasco’s *Madame Butterfly* in 1900 – Puccini was in the audience and famously turned the story into an opera. J. M. Barrie's famous creation *Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up* opened at the theatre on 27 Dec. 1904.

Typically, the Duke of York's Theatre is home to short-running plays, with West End and Broadway stars appearing.

## Duke of York's Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Royal Circle and Upper Circle.

The Stalls offer good legroom throughout, and the raking of the seats is very good, noticeably from Row D onwards. 

In the Royal Circles, there is no visual obstruction from the Upper Circle. 

The seats in the Upper Circle curve towards the stage. The final two rows of the Upper Circle are bench seats.

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Duke of York's Theatre

Read all about Matt Smith's latest stage appearances and learn more about the Doctor Who star's career on the West End stage.

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