A Mirror at the Almeida
I hold two concurrent but conflicting views about this play at the Almeida; firstly that it is a bit too clever for its own good with its Russian doll structure, secondly that it’s an enjoyable winding exploration of the nature of repression, propaganda, truth, art, and the role of the writer and theatre. Overriding it all though are the great performances from the main cast, which are worth seeing whatever you think of the actual play.
The audience are greeted with what appears to be an immersive performance of a state sanctioned wedding, complete with orders of service on every seat, and a drinks and canapés table to the side. Čelik (Jonny Lee Miller) as master of ceremonies opens the wedding between Adem (Micheal Ward) and Mei (Tanya Reynolds). However as soon as the state official leaves, the wedding halts and it is clear we are attending an underground performance of a play in a repressive state. This play within a play shows the writer Adem unable to write anything but transcripts of actual events, whilst Čelik, the state censor but also a fan of banned literature, wants him to find the depth through heightened versions of the truth. The contortions that follow are used to explore what theatre is about alongside the compromises that artists might have to make to get their play performed. We get to meet pompous, entitled Bax (Geoffrey Streatfield), a playwright who has compromised to produce sanitised, state sanctioned but popular plays. There’s a fairly familiar debate about who gets to tell the truth and what is truth and theatre for anyway. This is a repressive state but it also made me think about arts council funded/commercial theatre too.
The two types of truth are weighed against each other fairly simplistically but effectively through two versions of a story of a battle. One a heroic tale of victory against the odds, the other a bleak transcript of the truth.. Both versions were pretty effective actually which I thought made the debates more interesting. So how truth should be portrayed - is Adem's approach more valuable, merely transcribing life in detail without comment, ie being A Mirror? Or is it a writer's job to make value judgements, contextualise and frame the truth to tell a version of the story?
I enjoyed the final reveal uncovering yet another layer with a few asides about how the actors are always more attractive than the real people they are playing, but also giving us a few more truths to digest. The play also nods towards Hamlet, also set within a repressive state with lies within lies and a play within a play that reveals what might be the truth. This isn’t Hamlet, but despite its flaws, I enjoyed the new take on the topic, and overriding it all are the great performances which are worth seeing whatever you think of the actual play. And who would want to miss the opportunity to see Jonny Lee Miller close up and in full flow.
Finally, this week there were no phones or tipsy audiences but a different example of lack of consideration via someone with an awful covid type cough about 3 metres from us, which kept me pretty tense, possibly more than any sense of danger from the play.
EDIT: Having now read the reviews this is clearly a Marmite play, with it enraging some and enthralling others. I still think I am both - I enjoyed the exploration of ideas and the experience, particularly the performances, but the play could be a bit neater.
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