Beau Jest
by James Sherman at The Hackney Empire
Opened 7 May 2008

Starring: Lara Pulver, Alex Hardy, Adam Rayner, Alexander Giles, Sue Kelvin, Jack Chissick

"Susie McKenna’s production has been cast with faultless brilliance. The leads, Lara Pulver and Adam Rayner, are highly charismatic, moving and extremely funny." The Spectator

"Sarah Goldman (Lara Pulver), Beau Jest’s attractive teacher-heroine, is caught in just such a bind, a bind particularly noticed in orthodox Jewish families, where parents dread their offspring marrying out of the faith. In Sherman’s amusing, not impossible scenario, Lara Pulver’s suitably tense Sarah runs in dread of her parents’ flair for emotional blackmail." The Evening Standard

"Susie McKenna, who directs the peerless Hackney pantomimes, keeps the plot boiling. Lara Pulver as the duplicitous Sarah and Adam Rayner as the stand-in lover also have the charm and good looks to satisfy." The Guardian

Lara Pulver plays Sarah as a sweet, demure young woman who is just trying too hard to please. Official London Theatre Guide