Cut and thrust... Ian McKellen and Jimmy Akingbola in The Cut. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Mark Ravenhill's latest play, The Cut, at the Donmar Warehouse, is about Paul (Ian McKellen), an ordinary man with "a shocking secret. In a society sickened by his profession, Paul struggles with his conscience and longs to tell the truth." Various critics have brought out the knives for The Cut, but what did the audience make of it?
Emma, Stockwell It's about control. It's the sort of play that makes you think you can't possibly have a light-hearted evening afterwards. I found it slightly frustrating at the beginning, but then you realise it's very carefully plotted. It all comes full circle.
Maureen, London It was very much like the science fiction I used to read years and years ago. I'm sure it meant something very deep, but I'm not quite sure what.
Jan, London It's always wonderful to watch Ian McKellen, but you do wonder what the play's about. I suppose it's about emotion, and good and bad. But it didn't amount to much.
Richard, Hampstead The setting is a kind of Orwellian dystopia. It's about the burden of guilt and the banality of evil. I'm still not sure about the precise nature of the operation. It could be anything, but my guess is that it erases memory.
Deborah, New Hampshire I thought it was aimed at the British. It made me think about unfeeling, uptight people who just do not reflect the culture we're from. I felt sad that this kind of play has to take place in this day and age.
Bruce, New Hampshire In a superficial way, it made me think about the Nazis: how somebody can go through life doing really strange things to people, maybe feeling bad about it, maybe not, and then be called on the carpet at the end.
Michael Smith, Sussex This was very intense and thought-provoking. The play wouldn't have worked with a lesser actor than McKellen.
Keith Patrick, Reading It wasn't the most comfortable of watches. Some people in the audience laughed in inappropriate places. I did wonder about what the cut operation meant. I'd heard it was castration, but I thought it was mercy killing or voluntary suicide.
