The Unseen @ Riverside Studios - Review
A perfectly executed dialogue play with an awful lot to say. ★★★★★
At Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, until 14th December 2024.
Tickets from £15.
Rating: ★★★★★
The Unseen is Waiting for Godot for people who hate excess ambiguity, so right up my street. A dialogue play with two primary characters consisting mostly of surreal, rapid and frequently funny conversation, meditating both explicitly and implicitly on life, is not a new idea.
This particular incarnation of the winning formula takes place in a prison of an unspecifed authoritarian regime - the accompanying exhibition on Russian political prisoners may send some viewers in with the expectation it is set in Russia, but the anywhere-ness is very effectively done. Dialogue is perfectly crafted to give no impression of national context, even when talking about convictions and things that could be highly culturally specific like the creation of the universe and the seaside. I initially assumed from the promotion this was a new play, but after some research I can see it’s been performed in at least 6 other countries over the last decade and a half. Kudos to Craig Wright - a timeless piece of political theatre is no mean feat.
The staging and costumes are very effectively done to keep up this universality. Simon Kenny, designer, has resisted the impulse to dress an authoritarian set in symbols and flags, leaving a minimalist construction of cells and a wall of speakers. The cells without walls are presumably mostly to make the set useable, but they also give a nice visual metaphor for one of the themes of the play, the nature of imprisonment and prisons of the mind. Costuming is similarly vague, with utilitarian prison unforms and emblem-free guards.
At times, the dialogue can be a little on-the-nose, with explicit conversations about belief and guilt, but overwhelmingly it feels natural and real for characters in such a desperate, maddening situation. Waj Ali as Valdez and Richard Warrington as Wallace are a stunning duo, equally matched, highly effective actors with excellent chemistry for the lead duo. Smash, a guard, is the weakest character, but comes firmly into his own towards the latter half. Initially he seems like he might be the Godot character, much discussed but never appearing, and so when he does- especially played by the rather unintimidating Ross Tomlinson- it initially feels like a bit of an anticlimax. As he spends more time on stage, intense, raw dialogue and cheery, naturalistic acting combine for an impactful, chilling and yet sympathetic representation of one of the millions of men just following orders, individually just as trapped as their victims and yet the only way it all keeps going.
Try not to go into The Unseen expecting a play about Russia. This is a play about things that can happen anywhere and have happened everywhere. The casting (Chloe Blake) of a fully English accented cast is a healthy and needed reminder.
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Have you seen The Unseen, this time around or previously? Let me know your thoughts!