Corpse of Taos
Wilton’s Music Hall, London
the body is fine. But is there death?This is the question posed at the beginning Corpse of TaosIn David Farr’s captivating new play, Sam, a 33-year-old journalist from England, arrives in the New Mexico desert to bury his estranged mother Cass. But her task turned out to be much more complicated than she had imagined.
First, there are the wills that have been very recently altered to benefit the Future Life Corporation, a mysterious biotech facility. Then there’s the even more surprising discovery that the same agency worked with her mother to upload her thoughts and memories to create her AI Kath after her death. When her enraged Sam threatens to challenge her will, the undead Cass pleads with her: if Sam succeeds, the technology is turned off and Sam “killed” her mother. It will be. Soon, of course, Sam began hanging around her mother’s empty house and drinking heavily.
Farr’s plays are a compelling mix of moral thriller, philosophical debate, and psychological research.Playwright inspired by filmmaker Adam Curtis’ documentary series century of self, explores the growth of individualism, the nature of the self, and the illusion of choice. Through flashbacks, we see Cass transform from his radical young student in the 1970s to his sophisticated 1980s designer pitching water to gullible consumers. Her campaign enthusiasm gives way to self-development.
The drama also has echoes of Caryl Churchill number, delves into science fiction and asks barbed ethical questions. Churchill’s play uses cloning to explore identity, parenting, and relationships, asking: A similar dilemma appears in Farr’s drama. It turns out that Kath’s motives for “living” include a desire to mend her relationship with Sam and her ex-lover Leo. Meanwhile, the digital world is putting a new twist on the existential issues that have fueled religious debates over the past few centuries. Where is human nature? can you outwit death? can you find redemption?
On stage, various versions of young Cass burst across the stage, and Eve Ponsonby’s wonderfully fluid performance brings out a stark contrast between them and the strangely absent Cyborg, bringing dry ideas to life. increase. There’s also a great one with Gemma Lawrence as rambunctious Sam and David Burnett as Leo. Above all, this is a study of grief. Rachel Bagshaw, who directs this production of her Fuel, uses multiple screens, manipulating layers of reality by sending text cascading to her panels on the side, as if she were watching it online.
Emotionally, the play is slightly held back by the fact that Cass is inherently rather unlikely.
★★★★☆
Until November 12th wiltons.org.uk
From left, Douglas Henshall, Brian Burnell, and Ronna Morrison in “Mary” © Manuel Harlan
Mary
Hampstead Theatre, London
of James PlaysRona Munro wrote a pulsating, epic trilogy about three generations of Stewart kings, Scotland’s response to Shakespeare’s cycle of history. james Drama is currently touring Scotland. But it’s James who’s in a class of its own to star in her latest play. This time it is Sir James Melville, an influential diplomat and advisor to Mary, Queen of Scots. Maryis his arduous journey as we watch it unfold.
Overall, it is a quieter work than the previous works. A focused government drama set in 1567 and staged in a boarded-up back room, the monarch who gives the play its title is an occasional glimpse of a ghostly figure (Meg Watson). But her thoughts are always present, inspiring great loyalty to some and great disgust to others—and behind another series of closed doors that are at the heart of her drama. what happened to her in
Munro pitches the action on both sides of the contested episode at the Earl of Bothwell’s castle. Was Mary kidnapped and raped, or was it consensual? Melville strongly feels the former (as do playwrights). However, the Queen’s enemies cite her subsequent marriage to Bothwell as evidence against her, and pinpoint the path to her Queen’s downfall. The play extends to a close and articulate examination of how genuine beliefs intertwine with personal weaknesses, vested interests, and political expediency.
Douglas Henshall as Melville is fantastic. At first, confident in his position and principles, he dominated Thompson, a fictitious lowly servant. But when we rejoin them months later, riding the tide against Mary, Thompson is at the helm (Brian Burnell is supreme for this slippery, selfish arrival). By the end of the play, Henshall’s Melville is a broken man, undone by the shocking realization that he can betray the Queen after all. The serving lady, Agnes (Rona Morrison), flutters. Catholic disdain for Mary turns to fear as she sees her two men quarrel over what happened to the Queen’s body.
The play has many contemporary repercussions. The question is how Scotland defines its political future. The back room deals with the corridors of power. And above all, the harrowing spectacle of two men analyzing a woman’s behavior as “proof” of whether or not consent was given. Intelligent, sharp play. But it’s also dense and highly dialogue-heavy, and Roxana Silbert’s muted, often static production is almost subdued in places. More thoughtful than thrilling.
★★★☆☆
Until November 26th Hampstead Theater.com
Guy Lys and Daneka Etcherz as Benedick and Beatrice © Johan Persson
fuss
Theater Royal Stratford East, London
Men shouting at the virtues of women is also the spectacle of immorality at the heart of Shakespeare. fussThis is a romantic comedy with a dark heart: the shaming of the hero at her wedding by a devout man who believes in villains more than women approaches the tragedy of. Othello before resolving with a more or less happy ending.
In Robert Hastie’s work (first seen in Sheffield Crucible), that staging hero is deaf, making that shocking moment even more upsetting. Seeing Claire Wetherall’s inspiring hero learn through British Sign Language what men are saying about her only adds to the horror of the scene. It’s one of many intellectual and insightful moments in working with a company committed to putting disabled people and artists with disabilities at the center of their work. And this is an example of how inclusivity can be expanded artistically. Integrated into the action, signatures and descriptions often add meaning.
Elsewhere, this is a hilarious, heartwarming and welcoming production, beginning with the cast introducing the characters and moving forward with many clever comic touches. to find out his affection for him, and respond to an important revelation with an overemphasized slap. Dan Parr’s playboy, Don Pedro, is excruciatingly funny as he tries to gracefully retreat from his indecisive marriage proposal to Beatrice.
What the production doesn’t do is find a social context that makes sense of the plot (unlike Lucy Bailey’s recent Grove production, which is set in war-torn, highly conservative 1940s Italy). ). For example, I don’t feel the bonds forged in fights between men that serve to facilitate deception. But it’s full of witty performances, and at its core are Lys and Daneka Etzels, who excel as Benedick and Beatrice. Both suggest that there are many buried wounds beneath the refreshing joke. When they come together, they bring a quiet emotional intensity to the moment when the audience slouches following the hero’s humiliation.
★★★☆☆
Until November 5th stratfordeast.com
