The Lives of Others at Adelphi Theatre review: Keira Knightley's return to the stage is revolutionary

Evening Standard · Nick Curtis · 2026-11-02 00:01 UTC

It’s great to have Keira Knightley back on the London stage after 15 years, writes Nick Curtis

Keira Knightley makes a striking return to the London stage in Robert Icke’s magnificent adaptation of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Oscar-winning 2006 German film about the GDR’s surveillance state in the 1980s. As the marquee name she is fittingly cast as Christa-Marie Sieland, the bright, brittle star of the East Berlin theatre scene - all professional sheen and charm until a devastating scene that Knightley performs with wrenching conviction.

This is not a celebrity vehicle, though, but an ensemble piece. Indeed, you could almost call it a gesamtkunstwerk - a “total artwork” - so vital are design, sound and music to Icke’s vision. Christa lives with playwright Georg Dreyman (Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson, heroically fleshing out a role somewhat lacking in colour), whose faith in the socialist utopia is frayed by the blacklisting and suicide of a comrade.

Both are spied upon by Gerd Wiesler (outstanding Stephen Dillane), a weary true believer slowly realising that his masters have feet of clay, and seduced by the transforming power of art.

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