Relocated

Synopsis

A sinister mystery : "Are you going to do bathtime? What? Are you going to give the kids a bath? I don't want to get wet. Oh. Yes. Right. But, David . . . ? What? Well . . . Just say it. We don't have any children."

Our Review:

16 June 2008

You never know what to expect in the Theatre Upstairs these days: regulation issue Walmart jackets to be worn for the new Caryl Churchill; plastic stools and football jerseys in an Oxford Street sports shop; and now black gauze, low lighting and another seating rearrangement for the spooky new Anthony Neilson play, Relocated.

Using film noir lighting, a soundtrack of sobs and whispers, actors switching identities, and a horror moment of dripping blood, Neilson has created a sinister eighty minutes that prey on our fears and fascination with missing children, incarceration, guilt by association with pornography, the mystery of the secret life.

Neilson writes his plays in rehearsal with his actors, whom he also directs. He must have incorporated reactions to the recent unbelievable house of horrors in Austria. But we also think of an endless catalogue of abuse stories while watching the grim sequence of misunderstandings and ...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 27 June 2008:

OK, so the design team create an amazing film noir atmosphere. The acting is excellent. You're intrigued and on the edge of your seat for much of the time. In the end though it's snatches of horrific stories stitched together with no comprehensible story i.e. it's not a proper play. With this, the over-rated Ugly One and the disappointing absurdist pair, The Royal Court is in my view losing its way....

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