Is this the worst production of all time? Royal Court’s The Glow reviewed

It’s getting silly now. London’s subsidised theatres aren’t just competing to put on the worst play of the year but to create the worst production of all time. The Young Vic’s new effort, Conundrum, is an impenetrable rant which even the Guardian criticised.

The Royal Court enters the fray with Alistair McDowall’s The Glow, directed by Vicky Featherstone. Act One is a flatshare sitcom set in the 19th century and features a pompous spiritualist, Mrs Lyall, who forces her chippy son, Mason, to live with a lunatic called Sadie. Mrs Lyall purchased Sadie from an asylum and together they conjure up a host of ancient spirits including an angry Jesus figure who has a sword and an Irish accent. Drippy Sadie doesn’t get on with Mason, a petulant halfwit driven nuts by his hectoring mother.

Everyone hates each other. Mason sees Sadie cuddling his teddy bear. So he rips it to pieces.