A thrilling satire on theatre and censorship
A Mirror (Trafalgar Theatre) Verdict: Through a glass darkly ★★★★I
YOU may believe you have stumbled into an immersive theatre experience as you enter the foyer of Trafalgar Theatre, all pink swagging, floral sprays and fairy lights welcoming you to the wedding of Leyla and Joel.
We take our seats, like guests. As the couple make their way on to the platform of the Memorial Hall — the lightning bolt on the coat of arms suggests an authoritarian regime — the Registrar instructs us to stand. Thrillingly played by Jonny Lee Miller — shaven-headed, blackgloved, as if straight from central casting — he stands firm, sets his jaw, swills every syllable. We obey.
Jeremy Herrin’s production of Sam Holcroft’s breathtakingly original play begins as a tease, proceeds with unease and keeps you on edge, twisting, turning, shocking. The less you know about it in advance, the more amusing — and alarming — the experience.
For what appears to be a playful
play within a play within a play becomes ever more sinister. Like being locked inside a series of evershrinking and suffocating Russian dolls. So no spoilers from me.
Safe to say that Holcroft’s subject is freedom of expression, censorship and what sort of theatre is permitted in a state in which Shakespeare is banned.
A Mirror dares to ask what is theatre for. Even more boldly, it is in itself a pitch. A censor is unimpressed by the efforts of a wouldbe playwright who has written down the overheard conversations of his neighbours, one an ugly but intriguing negotiation between a wounded soldier and a sex worker.
The censor wants ‘a drama’, something ‘hopeful’, ‘inspiring’. But where does truth fit? And who is going to take the risk to tell it?
A superb cast slip with awesome skill and rigour between satire and seriousness, flippancy and gravity. Theatre at its most exhilarating.