A glorious way to lose the plot!
ANNA (Dorfman, National Theatre) Verdict: Gripping East German audio thriller ★★★★★
THIS incredibly stressful 60-minute East German thriller closes with the cast holding up a message to us killjoy critics. ‘Keep us safe. No spoilers.’
Having just been shown what happens to someone who doesn’t follow the party line, I’ll merrily keep shtum.
The great innovation of this play, though, is no secret. We see the drably lit apartment in communist Berlin through one long glass wall, but everything we hear comes from a set of stereo headphones.
The play was ‘created’ by writer Ella Hickson and sound geniuses Ben and Max Ringham; the drama reverse-engineered to fit the technology. As this dark, brilliantly unsettling tale of paranoia, perception and lies upon lies plays out, we hear everything Anna hears. Her left ear is our left ear, her right, our right.
It’s live podcast theatre and it thrills like no other. In the throes of a noisy party we hear the threats and reassurances oh so quietly whispered into her ears.
Snatches of conversation are tuned into, you get the rustle of a coat as it’s nervously taken off, or the slight waver of an exhale mid terrified cigarette.
It’s theatrical eavesdropping. I have no idea how they did it, because to look at sleek, suave Anna (Phoebe Fox) you couldn’t tell that her head was wired up like a telecoms mast.
Fox is outstanding. She loses the plot incredibly well and has such a sharp, dark edge. Max Bennett (as her husband’s mysterious boss) terrifies in the calmest, seemingly gentlest ways, and director Natalie Abrahami marshals some glorious frights — the man next to me actually jumped in his chair at one point.
This taut and short drama whips through fright, menace and numerous twists in no time, and plays so much of it through the smallest of expressions. All that and you leave before the sun has even set. Marvellous.