Let’s not be distracted by the scale and ambition … Yes, the show… will attract superlatives for its size - but what matters most is that it captures the life-loving spirit of Tolstoy.

Between them writer Helen Edmundson and directors Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale have created a beautiful, vibrant, crystal-clear adaptation: one that should be admired by all who love the book; one that may persuade the curious to open it.

… At the core of the production (enhanced by atmospheric lighting and sound from Chris Davey and Peter Salem) is a deep and moving friendship: Barnaby Kay seems to jump from Tolstoy’s text as the liberal, trusting and indulgent Pierre while the elegant David Sturzaker is perfect as the conservative, cynical, disciplined Andrei Bolkonsky. Natasha and Nikolai Rostov (Louise Ford, Jonathan Woolf) grow up before our eyes. We get equally skilful turns from Vinette Robinson and Hywel Morgan as the lusty Kuragin siblings, plus a could-have-fooled-me double from Geoffrey Beevers as the avuncular Rostov pere and a war-weary Kutuzov.

… an inspirational piece of theatre.

Jeremy Lewis, Nottingham Evening Post

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…the show that shouldn’t stand a chance…

But what a remarkable, unmissable achievement this is. … so fluid and fresh it can only reinvigorate your appreciation of the book.

… Shared Experience’s triumphant take on Tolstoy confirms that, as much as the book is about war and peace, it’s also about women and men.

Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph

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… a great deal to enjoy …

… the Shared Experience style … has a miraculous ability to articulate the unspoken and animate the psychological.

... the show brings the main characters eerily to life, right from the first moments in the modern-day Hermitage when they step like ghosts out of the shadows and join in the dance to the music of time. It is not hard to fall in love with the characters…

… I found myself swept up again by Tolstoy’s glorious humanity, Edmundson’s unflinching tragic vision and directors Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale, who create stage pictures that melt into each other like snowflakes. There is a scene when the ruined Natasha sings, Ophelia-like, in a landscape devastated by war; the personal and the political fuse perfectly. It is moments like that which make the entire six hours worthwhile.

Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

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… It’s a richly woven tapestry of intimate moments and big ideas, staged in a ballroom lined with tarnished mirrors.

Tolstoy’s book may be among the more intimidating items in world literature, but Edmundson shows it’s also a rattling good soap opera at heart; a tangled tale of love, friendship and the eternal human search for meaning.

Wayne Burrows, Metro

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Seven hours that shake the stage

… The visuals are atmospheric …

… Barnaby Kay shows assiduous stamina as Pierre … Louise Ford, less than a year out of Rada, meets the challenge of Natash gaining years and bitter experience; agreeable character turns are provided by the chirping Geoffrey Beevers and the rumbling Jeffery Kissoon.

Shared Experience … purveyors of excellence in novel adaptations … a blend of textual attention and ensemble performance that periodically takes flight beyond naturalism …

Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times

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Polly Teale and Nancy Meckler’s production has momentum, and … a vibrant, involving immediacy.

…Angela Simpson’s set of tarnished gilt mirrors and picture frames implies fragility and decay…

Sensuality is flavoursomely expressed in choreographic fantasy …

Barnaby Kay’s Pierre suggests steel beneath his bumbling manner, and David Sturzaker’s nihilistic Andrei has a cruelty and intelligence that make him wince as he wounds. Louise Ford’s Natasha develops touchingly from mischievous child to womanhood. And Jeffery Kissoon is a bitter delight as the elderly Prince Bolkonnsky, baiting and humiliating his love-starved daughter Maria (a poignant Katie Wimpenny). When, from the restless ebb and flow of emotion and action, a sense of their search for life’s meaning emerges, the production shines.

Sam Marlowe, The Times

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Tolkien used to joke that the only thing wrong with his 1,400-page The Lord of the Rings was that it wasn’t nearly long enough. The same could be said of Shared Experience’s magnificent production of War and Peace, which opened a national tour at the Nottingham Playhouse. Tolstoy’s novel is brilliantly adapted by Helen Edmundson into just six hours, but by the end you could have happily enjoyed more.

The central performances are immaculate, with Barnaby Kay as the enthusisastic, myopic, idealistic Pierre, David Sturzaker almost his mirror opposite as the cynical, handsome Prince Andrei , and Louise Ford outstanding as the vivacious and enchanting Natasha, one of literature’s most lovable heroines. Along with the duels, battles, balls, wolf hunts, love scenes, birth scenes and death scenes, a production on this scale can comfortably accommodate those rambling Russian conversations about goodness, the soul, politics, death and God. Okay, so it’s based on quite a good original novel, but this is triumphant theatre.

Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times

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It takes determination to tackle War and Peace in six hours – determination, stamina and nerve. So there was tension as well as excitement among the audience before Shared Experience’s production in Nottingham. Committing to watching both parts of Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel on the same day means that a well-uphostered seat is essential. Fortunately, Nottingham Playhouse, last year voted the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre, is up to the task.

… Katie Wimpenny’s outstanding performance as Maria, all repression and pent-up emotion, deserves special mention, but this is truly a team production ... The actors jump easily from character to character, and their movement around the stage is exactly choreographed …

… While never losing the scale of the novel, Edmundson’s script allows us to become involved with the stories of individuals against a background of vast events. It is a script of humour and power, and has contemporary relevance – a story of families caught up in a protracted, futile war, and the tale of a man with ambitions to become President of Europe.

Robert Lee, "You Write the Reviews", The Independent

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Fifteen actors play 72 parts, with minimal scenery, and I’ve rarely seen a production where the doubling is achieved so convincingly. Among the leads, Barnaby Kay, as Pierre, myopic, nervous tics to the fore, grows fro riotous drunkard to chastened philosopher by fascinating steps. It’s a remarkable performance, and he put me in mind of the young Kenneth Branagh. Louise Ford, as Natasha, makes a similarly compelling jourey from ingénue to knowing woman. Jeffery Kissoon, meanwhile, as Bolkonsky, wins all the comic chips for his unashamed portrayal of a selfish, bullying old patriarch.

… Pierre’s fantasy scenes played out with Napoleon (Richard Attlee) are both funny and philosophically revealing, and there’s a wonderful pastiche operatic interlude cooked up to mock Natasha’s naff romanticism when she falls for a rake at the theatre.

… the production is a journey, and the further you get into it the more you want to find out what’s waiting at the end.

Tim Auld, Sunday Telegraph