Anne Hathaway wins high-flying reviews for one-woman show

Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway has won a slew of positive reviews for her one-woman show Grounded, which has been hailed a "real gem" following its opening in New York City.

In the play, the Les Miserables star plays a female fighter pilot who is consigned to flying drones after falling pregnant, and the show opened at The Public Theater in the Big Apple on Sunday (26Apr15).

Hathaway goes it alone in the one-woman production, directed by Julie Taymor, and her performance has been branded "fiercely good" by the New York Times' Charles Isherwood, who adds, "Ms. Hathaway expertly delineates the gradual disintegration of her character's equilibrium... You get a chill."

Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News gives George Brant's play four stars out of five and adds, "The play's a real gem... Hathaway... who thrives on stage, is riveting. From gung-ho exhilaration to excruciating despair to the brink of losing it, she is in command even (though) her character isn't. In Grounded, Hathaway flies high."

Alexis Soloski of Britain's The Guardian newspaper writes, "This is a consciously chameleonesque performance: movie glamour is exchanged for scraped-back hair and minimal make-up; mid-Atlantic vowels for Wyoming drawl... The script demands a heightened performance, especially as the pilot grows increasingly unstrapped from observable reality, and Hathaway delivers... She goes full throttle here."

Grounded runs until 17 May (15).