{"id":11337,"date":"2020-02-11T18:16:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laughfrodisiac.com\/?p=11337"},"modified":"2020-02-11T18:16:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T18:16:35","slug":"the-haystack-at-the-hampstead-theatre-what-modern-theatre-wants-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laughfrodisiac.com\/2020\/02\/11\/the-haystack-at-the-hampstead-theatre-what-modern-theatre-wants-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"The Haystack at the Hampstead Theatre: What Modern Theatre Wants to Be"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
If you still take your iPhone into the bathroom with you, then this is the show for you! Man alive you won\u2019t be doing that shit anymore. The Haystack<\/em> is the fantastic new play that all modern theatre wants to be. It\u2019s fascinating, provocative, gripping, and best of all completely original. Nearly every minute of this show felt warranted and every plot twist had me simultaneously gasping (quietly) in surprise and smiling at how well done it was. I have been waiting for a new play (or a revival, I mean see my last theatre review) that was this close to being flawless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Haystack<\/em> is not, as I originally guessed just when I heard the title, a farm show that\u2019s sort of like Oklahoma<\/em><\/span><\/a>! <\/em>but without music. Instead, it\u2019s a thrilling look at modern society and how our government watches all of us, for \u2018good reason\u2019, so they say. Told in flashback after what seems like it\u2019s going to be for sure a tragedy, the story centers on the work of Neil (Oliver Johnstone, I mean, so good) and Zef (Enyi Okoronkwo, airtight performance) at the GCHQ, which is like the UK version of the NSA. It\u2019s the government agency where they spy on you, pretty much, with technology that is mind-boggling. Neil and Zef are best friends, video game aficionados, and incredible spygame wizards (hackers? Are they hackers? I mean probably also?). When the two get assigned a particularly important case that falls under the terrorism unit\u2019s purview, everything changes, and not in the fun \u2018last song of Waitress<\/em><\/span><\/a>\u2019 kind of way. The subject of their surveillance, a young journalist named Cora (excellent Rona Morison), captures Neil\u2019s attention, and then he starts to Adam-Sandler-in-Uncut-Gems<\/span><\/a> it up real hard (i.e. make bad decisions).<\/p>\n The play depicts a huge issue \u2013 government\u2019s alarming incursions into civilians\u2019 privacy \u2013 while telling an interpersonal story about how the larger actions of the government agencies controlling our society play out on the small scale. As someone who remembers when the USA passed the Patriot Act (super typical America to call something so insidious such a delightful name), I appreciated how they used this fictional tale to remind us that we should be horrified at what rights to privacy we have given up without a fight, in a way that worked without being overbearing.<\/p>\n What\u2019s great about this show is that, with Neil\u2019s central performance, you know he\u2019s doing bad things but you understand why, and I can\u2019t really fault his reasoning for first going down this path (for continuing it, sure, lots of bad moves, but the initial part, I probably would have done the same). By establishing that empathy with him, you feel the anguish of his conflict, and his stress, my god the stress. Johnstone\u2019s Neil is a guy we all know and like and root for, and he handles the weight of this role wonderfully, as does Morison\u2019s Cora, fully fleshed out like an actual real person, with flaws and heart and vulnerability. The rest of the small cast is equally strong and believable.<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n