I can safely say, the 5 star reviews are entirely justified. Chimerica is an absolute triumph, providing a sensational story with characters, set and lighting design, direction - heck, even front of house staff - that are exceptional.
Everything about this play is gloriously rich, carrying the complexities and depths that usually belong to a novel or a film. And yet this play couldn't be anything but a play, because the beauty of it is in its simplicity, namely, the dozens of sets that are projected onto little more than a revolving cube. The credit for this ingenuity goes to Es Devlin, whose vision allows a background of action to momentarily pass us by. The peripheries of the storyline that are otherwise discarded for their apparent insignificance are afforded their stage time, and the play is all the better for it.
So, what of that storyline? First of all, it is a total homage to the brilliant mind of Lucy Kirkwood. Inspired by the famous image of a man standing in front of the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989, the play follows the journey of a photojournalist who took the picture as he tries, with often desperate measures, to discover what happened to the 'Tank Man' after the event. What he sacrifices, misinterprets and finally discovers brings the audience to a communal dawning realisation, a sharp inhale, and evermore support for the leading man we've followed just as desperately in his endeavour.
Each scene is short, sharp of wit and quick to action. Indeed, Kirkwood wastes no time in this 2 hour 45 minute play. She has taken her story by the scruff of its neck and, apart from the interval, I don't think I moved an inch for the entire duration. Credit for this must also go to the mesmerising performances of the actors, most significantly the photojournalist Joe (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Tess (Claudie Blakley), who provided the requisite 'boy meets girl' storyline that, let's face it, we crave if it is neglected. The comic slant came most prominently from Frank (Trevor Cooper), the editor of the newspaper, whose cynicism deserves the sort of laughter that provokes a snort, if the woman sat behind me was any sort of gauge. What's more, it took me a few scenes to realise that the actors were doubling up on characters: a cast of 12 became a cast of 22, which demonstrates just how much this play immerses you into the reality of it.
Upon leaving the auditorium, I soon realised that there are barely substantial words to describe how phenomenal this piece of theatre is. Although I decided that the only real solution was to see it again, perhaps every day until the end of its run on 19th October, if you see it just once you'll feel as I did: glad of the near miss between a life where you saw it, and the life where you didn't. Like deciding whether to stand in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, or not. Some things make a resounding mark in history, others don't, but I believe this play will be one that does.
Tickets £10 - 49.50
Available at www.chimerica.co.uk
'Chimerica' runs at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 19th October.
No comments:
Post a Comment