'Al Blyth’s debut play explores how far into the lives of citizens a state can pry, and the effects on the snoopers themselves'

'After the movie Official Secrets, about the Observer’s engagement with a GCHQ whistleblower, comes Al Blyth’s debut play The Haystack, in which a fictional Guardian reporter and home affairs editor deal with a leak raising multiple ethical issues. In Official Secrets, the dangerous information came from the state snooping centre in Cheltenham; in The Haystack two junior spooks at GCHQ, nerdy Neil and laddish Zef, are charged with finding out where Guardian writer Cora is getting her scoops about Middle East politics.'

'...Roxana Silbert’s staging becomes searingly theatrical in scenes that dramatise the double lives of spies by having characters simultaneously conducting conversations in different locations. John le Carré himself might admire the standout dialogue in which a spy dumps his partner during a row in which lies and truths hide behind each other.'

'Rona Morison, superb in the Donmar’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, excels again as the gutsy but too trusting Cora. Oliver Johnstone and Enyi Okoronkwo, as the sneak-geeks, convey the painful moral consequences of voyeurism, even when it’s for work. Lucy Black’s high-up hack and Sarah Woodward’s top spook occasionally seem too similar in their ambitious pragmatism but a sly point may be intended about the overlaps between newspapers and the state. This pacy, brainy surveillance thriller should be widely watched.'

To read the full review visit The Guardian online here.

'...Al Blyth’s debut full-length play, a gripping thriller about how we’re ‘protected’ that deserves packed houses at Hampstead, possibly a transfer, and maybe even a TV spin-off.'

'The Haystack plays out as a dark, twisty love-story with complex ethical and intellectual ramifications.'

'The evening fizzes with wit, buzz-words and teched-up references and has a busy visual vocabulary to match: Tom Piper’s set conjures a cluster of interiors without demarcating walls; the actors step between spaces to accentuate the collapse of boundaries between the digital and real. The smart use of video, plus projected online exchanges, further adds to the sense that Roxana Silbert – making her debut production as Hampstead’s artistic director – has found a play that is genuinely for today.'

'...Blyth draws us into a human quest for connection set against an impersonal world of escalating mistrust. Among a fantastically cohesive, seven-strong cast, Rona Morison shines as the idealistic, headstrong journalist, while Olivier Johnstone’s Neil combines boyish enthusiasm with premature sagacity about the dystopian direction of travel - and what our brave new world might have meant for past leaps forward. “If we’d known every railing [the suffragettes] were going to chain themselves to, ahead of time – would they have managed a single successful protest?” he asks. Good question; it needs an answer.'

To read the full review visit The Telegraph online here.

'Roxana Silbert became artistic director of Hampstead Theatre eight months ago, but this is the first production she has tackled herself. It’s a smart choice, a tense technological thriller from Al Blyth that raises pertinent questions about the implications of state surveillance.'

'The drama... grips like a vice.'

'Oliver Johnstone and Rona Morison are highly impressive in the central roles, and their chemistry fizzes. Enyi Okoronkwo captures Zef’s paradoxical mix of creepiness and high-mindedness, while Lucy Black and Sarah Woodward fittingly mirror each other as the conflicted Guardian editor and overbearing GCHQ boss.'

'Tom Piper’s neatly overlapping design incorporates several large screens, which drop in and out of the action.'

'...considering this is Blyth’s first full-length play it is extremely accomplished, and waves urgent red flags about how quickly good intentions in our ultra-connected age can go very badly wrong. It certainly bodes well for Silbert’s tenure.'

To read the full review visit The Stage online here.

'The ratio of needles to haystack hobbles counter-terrorism - whatever you seek is buried in wodges of everyday data. That's the context to this full-length debut play by former research economist Al Blyth. In his engrossing thriller, two young geeks at GCHQ seek the source of embarrassing press stories about Saudi-British collusion.'

'Roxana Silbert's production moves sleekly between online activity and meatspace, filling our pockets with paranoia.'

To read the full review visit The Times online here.