A plucky Daniel Radcliffe stands up to scrutiny

Daniel Radcliffe and Edward Snowden in the same show – what miracle of coup-casting is that?! One of the most famous young actors in the world and America’s most wanted whistle-blower. The former there in the flesh, pale and interesting and blinking in a way that puts you in mind of a certain boy wizard. The latter, even paler and more tired-looking, popping up on screen in a pre-recorded segment, presumably achieved via a subversive Russian link-up.

Short of recruiting Julian Assange to tap-dance in a negligée, Josie Rourke, artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, could hardly have applied more headline-grabbing, headturning panache to this new, souped-up, New Yorkfriendly version of James Graham’s techno-savvy play, first seen in 2014, which is all about privacy.

Though Radcliffe (below) plays a fictionalised version of Graham, trying to find someone to trust (and love) in a world of constant surveillance – which he tries to find out more about, consulting boffins and experts galore – it takes no genius to spot links between the actor’s intensely scrutinised life and the way our own, ordinary activities are increasingly tracked.

Both as an overall statement and in the minuteby-minute substance of his vulnerable, down-to-earth presence, he enriches the piece’s head-on exploration of its themes. Potter-related hysteria is barely kept at bay by the decision to invite onstage three female audiencemembers to conduct mock speed-dates – Radcliffe interacting with them based on material harvested from their online data-trail (our phones are leaky cauldrons of personal information, too). When he wails “I want to go home” ahead of the ordeal, it sounds real and there’s no disguising the jittery frisson on both sides as they smalltalk in front of a roomful of strangers.

The evening remains a mass of fascinating material and ideas, with insufficient debate about the security value of governmental snooping. Yet it’s inventive, funny and, aside from such nuggets as how to take the perfect “selfie”, abounds with memorable images, not least Radcliffe surrounded by a Manhattan skyscraper forest of Amazon parcels, one delivered by drone.

Snowden drops in the chilling thought that the next generation will have zero privacy, and both men (and a recorded Simon Russell Beale) recite lines from The Tempest – a play all about the yearning for solitude versus the need for society. “The isle is full of noises”, intones Radcliffe, who deserves a high-rating feedback for making a newsworthy noise on this most magical of urban isles.