Camden New Journal - Theatre: Briefing

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The Review - THEATRE by JOSH LOEB
Published: 17 April 2008

Brief encounter of the blurred kind

BRIEFING
Camden People’s Theatre

A MAN wakes up in a psychiatric hospital.
He is Charles Watkins, a university professor who has lost his memory. Or he is an alien sent to Earth on a vital mission he can no longer remember.
This premise sounds ridiculous but has inspired a tremendously moving play. Based on Doris Lessing’s science fiction novel Briefing for a Descent into Hell, this is a breathlessly fast-paced play and gripping in the extreme. It poses profound questions about identity, mental illness and civilisation.
The beauty of this play is that it offers the audience two opposing narratives but confirms neither. The man the doctors call Watkins is utterly convincing in his assertions that he has only fragmented visions of who he really is.
Through disorienting flashbacks, the alien theory is presented as a possible solution to the mystery. But the doctors are adamant their patient is seeing illusions caused by chemical imbalances in his brain.
Every play relies on suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience, but particularly strong performances are required of the actors for a play like this to work. Luckily the acting here is superb, with James Turpin on spine-tingling form as the tortured protagonist.
If the alien theory is right, the fate of our planet depends on this psychiatric patient being able to remember who he is. A journey into the heart of darkness, Briefing conveys this sense of urgency sublimely.

Until April 26
0870 600 100

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