‘The relentless clever-dickery turns into tiresome’ – A Mirror assessment

Sam Holcroft has taken Hamlet’s recommendation to the Players that drama ought to maintain ‘the mirror up to nature’ and run with it. A play inside a play inside a play, Holcroft creates not only a mirror however a corridor of mirrors.

It begins with a civil marriage ceremony by which the viewers is the congregation and the sinister Celik (Jonny Lee Miller) is the celebrant.

As lights exit we’re plunged into an underground manufacturing of a play set in a totalitarian society the place criticism of the established order would result in imprisonment.

The marriage ceremony state of affairs is a ‘front’ to idiot the authorities. Celik is now the Minister of Culture making an attempt to speak younger playwright Adem (Micheal Ward) out of 1 play into one other, recognising his expertise however anxious that he is likely to be subversive.

Adem is just not a lot a dramatist as a human tape recorder and easily writes dialogue verbatim from reminiscence within the quest for “truth”. When his subsequent play is learn by the Celik and his nervous secretary Mei (Tanya Reynolds) he’s aghast at discovering himself depicted within the script. 

The innumerable issues that comply with pivot round a central argument about fact and fabrication; in an over-elaborate extrapolation of Shaekspeare’s strains, Holcroft riffs across the nature of inventive compromise whereas throwing in a little bit of bohemian-v-bureaucrat jealousy so as to add spice to an over-seasoned recipe.

A lone cellist (Miriam Wakeling) underscores the motion, even delivering a pastiche of Jimi Hendrix’s distorted Star Spangled Banner to nice impact.

In spite of the excellent performances, the relentless clever-dickery turns into tiresome lengthy earlier than the tip.

A Mirror, Almeida Theatre till September 23, Tickets: 020 7359 4404