God in Ruins

Synopsis

Themes include elements of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, online technology, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, and men becoming gods in their own bedrooms as they try to recreate themselves in virtual worlds like Second Life. But at the heart of the play is human story as a father attempts to communicate with his daughter.

Our Review:

6 December 2007

Anthony Neilson’s working title for his new play - God in Ruins - presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Soho Theatre after a period of development in rehearsal with an all-male company of 11 actors, could imply a) the end of organised religion or b) signs of divinity among the human wreckage.

Elements of b) are more paramount, as the starting off point of a parody of A Christmas Carol – with Bob Cratchit inviting Scrooge to get lost with his overweening offers of seasonal hospitality – is ditched in the story of a drunken television producer trying to get in touch with his daughter.

There is a sort of desperation about it all that is, in the end, quite appealing. Neilson, who also directs, and his company - who all figured in the RSC’s year-long Complete Works Festival’s double of Macbeth and Ionesco’s Macbett at Stratford-upon-Avon earlier this year - have certainly come up with a good night’s theatre.

At one po...

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