'In Max Stafford-Clark's meticulous, superlatively acted production, a powerful searchlight is turned upon vulnerable teenagers stirred by dreams and desires'

'Monica Dolan's attractive Suzanne, in her Doc Martens, leather jacket and mockery of a skirt over black tights, is quite tremendous'

'Bryan Dick's violent, socially aspiring Luka, who tries to play adult to Suzanne's little-girl lost, Danny Worter's smitten shop boy Josh and Loo Brealey, as his canny sister, make memorable victims of sexual adventuring'

The Sunday Times - John Peter (9/9/01)

'This is a bruisintly accurate portrait of a loser who cannot believe that she could ever be a winner...it has great power and anguish'

'Dolan gives a heartbreakingly fierce and subtly detailed performance that burns and burns in your memory.'

Financial Times - Alastair Macauley (5/9/01)

'There are several very good reasons to see Sliding with Suzanne. One of them is Suzanne herself, an astonishigly vivid, divided character...And then there's Monica Dolan in the role...she here confirms what I have thought for years: Dolan is one of the best actors in Britain...She's funny, intense, shrewd: she brings her whole being to whatever she's doing, and you never know what she'll do next.'

'Sliding with Suzanne feels very Stafford-Clark indeed...Like so many plays he's handled so well, it's up-to-date social realism with several characters under 20 years old, and his tuning of all the main scenes shows why he has long been one of our greatest directors: the social realism is the basis for acute psychological realism'

'Bryan Dick, as young Luka, and Loo Brealey, as the younger Sohpie, give the kind of performances when you hang on everything they do; and Danny Worters, as Josh, has a kind of heartfelt glow of naivety that's heart-catching'

Daily Telegraph - Charles Spencer (5/9/01)

'Upton is a prolific young dramatist of real gifts. Torrid emotional confrontations are combined with sly, and sometimes outrageous humour and she has seized here on an important truth - the inability of large sections of the pampered thirtysomething generation to grow up.'

'the play sparkily captures the poignant confusion of teenagers brought up by parents who are more infantile than they are'

'the acting is outstanding'

'As Suzanne, Monica Dolan is sad, vulnerable and funny as well as monstrous, while Danny Worters and Bryan Dick are spot-on as the gauche teenagers who become bitter rivals for her love. Best of all though is Loo Brealey as Sophie, a perfect, poignant study of adolescent curiosity and sexual confusion.'

The Guardian - Michael Billington (4/9/01)

'Upton's writing is often psychologically acute...and offers a tenderly humorous view of Suzanne's mother and her nervous courtship of a widowed neighbour'

'Dolan moves from blazing anger to emotional fragility like a taxi turning on a sixpence. It is a wonderfully unguarded performance well supported by Byan Dick as the surprisingly sane Luka, June Watson as Suzanne's primly ineffectual mum and Danny Worters as a lovelorn Brighton toy boy.'

Time Out - Jane Edwardes (11/9/01)

Time Out Critic's Choice