Martin Guerre – The Old Vic

Liv Andrusier and Shane O’Riordan (Martin) in Martin Guerre at The Old Vic, London. Picture: Helen Maybanks

Martin Guerre continues at The Old Vic, London until 31 October 2026.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

In the month that the English language version of Les Misérables celebrated its 41st birthday, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s poorly received 1996 show, Martin Guerre, has received a revamp, reducing its size both physically and in running time.

After Cameron Mackintosh returned the rights to the musical back to the composers, lyricist Boublil has worked with Annabel Mutale Reed and Paul Hodge to rework the show’s libretto, although Stephen Clark (who was brought in to rework the original London production’s lyrics during its run) retains a credit. Under director Matthew Warchus, the musical is now an interval-free 90 minutes, playing in the round in the configuration the Old Vic uses for A Christmas Carol.

The story is much the same, based as it is on a real 16th century case where a villager, Martin Guerre, heads off to war. Several years later, a man claiming to be Martin returns to the village – but we have already been shown that he is a fellow soldier who has assumed his identity. The question is, will Martin’s wife Bertrande (Liv Andrusier) recognise that the man who says he is her husband is quite literally not the boy who left.

This streamlined production becomes a largely linear affair, taking village life from the moment Bertrande and Martin are subjected to a teenage arranged marriage. Young Martin (Dan Hand) feels driven out as the superstitious villagers believe that a drought and failing crops are directly attributed to the young couple’s failure to consummate. When Shane O’Riordan’s Martin returns, suspicion reigns – but a sudden rainfall helps cement some villagers’ belief that the community’s prodigal son has indeed returned.

The story is certainly propulsive, with Rob Howell’s set and costume design providing an effective impression of a medieval France in which black skinny jeans are de rigueur. Andrusier leads the quality voices with a strong central performance that, unfortunately, feels a little sidelined as the play progresses and suspicion about Martin’s identity begin to rise.

The rest of the villagers work hard to portray a sense of community, too, with Caroline Sheen and Mathew Craig impressing while Adam Pearce’s Father Dominic effectively portrays the oversized role in which the Church dominates village life. Perhaps the most impactful is Colin Ryan, whose neurodivergent Benoit feels less like the village idiot portrayal that the character could so easily become, and more of a young man who gets through life in his own unique manner.

At its core, though, the music, flag-waving – and even the wooden furniture piled, barricade-like, in the centre of the stage as the play opens – cannot help but remind one of Boublil and Schönberg’s more beloved masterpiece. The six-strong band, conducted by musical supervisor Chris Poon, deliver a score that is rousing but always feels as if it is about to ask us if we hear the people sing.

It’s not that Martin Guerre is bad at all, it just struggles to work out that final step from goodness to greatness. In what is effectively his final production as artistic director of the Old Vic (if one does not count this Christmas’ now-traditional revival of A Christmas Carol), it’s clear Warchus has chosen to redeem a musical that many hold dear despite, and maybe even because of, its troubled past. That he only partially succeeds is not the point; that he tried at all is commendable.

All these years later, Martin Guerre has returned. Is it the same musical that left, all those years ago? Yes, and no. But this version has grown up, matured and deserves to be welcomed.

Scott Matthewman