Staged


Staged is a six-part British television comedy series, set during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and filmed using video-conferencing technology. The series premiered on 10 June 2020 on BBC One.

Plot

Michael Sheen and David Tennant play fictionalised versions of themselves trying to rehearse a performance of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, during lockdown.

Cast

Main cast

Critical reception

Louis Chilton, in a four-starred review for The Independent, described Staged as "a welcome distraction, an eminently watchable portrait of two artists as petulant, egotistical children". Anna Leszkiewicz, for the New Statesman, said it was "charming: absurdly silly in a quiet, understated way". Rupert Hawksley, in the i, described it as "compelling 'lockdown' television". Gabriel Tate, reviewing Staged for Metro, said "Sheen and Tennant shared a warmth and willingness to take the mickey out of each other that felt entirely unforced." Fergus Morgan, writing in The Stage, gave the production five stars and said: "Tennant and Sheen are excellent, perennially, even when performing as themselves to their own laptops. Here, joined by Evans and by their real-life spouses – the actors Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg – they are on top form, crackling with snide chemistry. The whole thing is a treat."