It was a Royal Court double whammy last week as I caught the two plays running at the Sloane Square theatre.
On Tuesday it was ‘Now or Later’ Christopher Shinn’s new and rather well-timed play set on the night of an American election. Things are looking up for the Democrat candidate until potentially offensive pictures of his twenty-year-old son, John (Eddie Redmayne), start surfacing on the internet. The play hinges on whether John should apologise for what he’s done or whether he’s entitled to his freedom of expression.
Structurally the play is fairly conservative. John is holed up in a slick hotel room as one character after another enters and argues with him about his decision to stand his ground. At its worst it felt like an essay, and I wondered at the dramatic value of at least one of the characters’ contributions. But if the play was occasionally formulaic, the subject matter was dynamite. Put together with a red hot performance from the brilliant Redmayne and the whole thing came very close to being explosive.
Both ‘Now or Later’ and ‘Faces In The Crowd’ – Leo Butler’s new show, running in the upstairs theatre – occur in a single place and in continuous ‘real’ time; both shows lock you into the drama with no scene change or interval to give you time to ponder or assess. In both cases, the technique works. But if the former is exploring how personal actions can radiate out into the world with unexpected effects, then the latter is about turning in and looking at how the world around can sometimes crush us.
Set in a ‘minimalist’ (read: small but trendy) flat in Hoxton, ‘Faces In The Crowd’ lifts the lid – literally – on an awkward, painful and intense reunion. Dave abandoned wife Joanne ten years ago to leave Sheffield and start over in London. Burdened with the debts he left her, both financial and emotional, Joanne wants paying back. With interest. What, precisely, she’s after is left tantalizingly vague for roughly the first half of the play – how plausible you find her demands will probably determine whether or not you enjoy the rest of the piece.
I won’t pretend to be impartial; I know both Leo and director Clare Lizzimore. Nevertheless, I can honestly say I found the writing bracing, fresh and honest and all the production elements, from the spot-on performances (Amanda Drew and Con O’Neill) to the inspired decision to have the audience elevated and looking down on the action, everything contributed to an exhilarating – and exhausting – show.
If you like to be challenged this is a show for you. If not, then you’ll probably agree with the elderly American gentleman, who said this to his female companion on leaving the theatre: “Maybe we should see a musical next time.”