The Hills of California

'Magnificent, moving and quietly furious… a rich, funny, brilliantly layered drama about lost dreams, trampled hopes, parenting and letting go'

'A remarkable play... unfurls with the richness and depth of a well-crafted novel... Butterworth remains a one-off, a man who can write plays about ordinary people that carry the charge of the great tragedies'

'A strange and enthralling family saga, packed with warmth, hurt and rich texture... on a par with Butterworth's Jerusalem and The Ferryman – a trio of flawed masterpieces'

'Exquisite... Devastatingly moving, bitterly funny, tender, cruel and wise'

'Rich, vivid and compelling... the West End is infinitely the richer for its presence'

'Beautifully well-written... Filled with believable, colourful characters... expertly engineered... a rich text, full of nuance and glorious dialogue'

'Intelligent, witty and studded with good lines, fine performances, resonances, echoes and a lingering sense of loss'

'Epic and ambitious... The writing is closely observed, humorous, but with ripples of anger beneath the surface'

'Bittersweet and bitingly funny... Butterworth's poetic verbosity is in full evidence, along with savage humour, painful pathos and simmering rage... thought-provoking, heartbreaking and multi-layered'

'It's smart, ambitious fare, and the dialogue displays Butterworth's usual élan'

'Perfect... mournfully entertaining, dramatically intense... a majestic evening, often funny but full and satisfying'

'A masterclass... a play that taps right into the heart of the grieving process and gives you raw, unabashed truths about how families treat one another'

'A new masterpiece'

'Astute and compelling... an imperfect masterpiece... Butterworth reminds us of his singular ability to take us deep inside a seemingly mundane microcosm, and make shatteringly astute observations about family dynamics, unreliable memories, sexual politics and then some... undoubtedly one of the most brilliant works you'll see on stage this year'

'A major event in theatre... Butterworth's dialogue merges the lyrical and the earthy, threaded together by strong, dark humour'

'Relentlessly entertaining... drops you deep into the devastations of time and lifts you gently into the consolations of song'

'Ambitious, captivating and richly rewarding'

'This is wide-scoped and complicated storytelling... Butterworth's writing rewards the effort. The Hills of California is often very funny, but it has a core of deep regret that gets revealed as layers of family secrets are peeled away'