"We've seen Cumberbatch enthral before with fast-gab brilliance, but this is him simply acting with his face. I don't know why this hasn't struck me before, but there's something of the Alan Rickman about him; one drowsy droop of an eyelid, one slip of the planes of his face, can convey either wry honest amusement or withering contempt."

Euan Ferguson - The Guardian

"Playing Christopher, Benedict Cumberbatch proves particularly good at conveying suppressed pain — which, given how much pain he has to suppress, is just as well. Christopher is fully aware of his wife’s infidelities: after all, one of her few strongly held beliefs is that “there’s no point in a fling if one’s husband doesn’t notice”. Meanwhile, his political ideas are coming under severe examination, too."

James Walton - The Telegraph

"Tietjens, the self-proclaimed "last Tory", whose world, according to Sylvia, "ended long ago … in the 18th century", is not easy to warm to, and you can understand why Stoppard wooed Cumberbatch so assiduously. Perhaps no other actor of his generation is quite so capable of suggesting the tumult beneath a crusty, seemingly inert surface."

Gerard Gilbert - The Independent