The Cryptogram

Synopsis

John cannot sleep. He s afraid to go to sleep. He doesn t understand what is happening or why his father hasn t returned home. David Mamet s unsettling elliptical play charts the breakdown of a family, pinpointing the moment when childhood finally vanishes.

Our Review:

18 October 2006

A cryptogram, something written in code or cipher, is not necessarily something you can understand even if you find the key. So it proves with this short, highly personal and emotionally baffling play by David Mamet which is no more accessible or enjoyable, really, than it was when given its world premiere in the West End 12 years ago.

Three scenes, spanning four weeks, are played without an interval. Although Josie Rourke’s tensely arranged production has two fine performances from Kim Cattrall as the beautiful wife and mother, Donny, and Douglas Henshall as the gay family friend, Del, you feel markedly short-changed after a mere 65 minutes of bluff and counter-bluff.

The central character is neither Donny nor Del, but Donny’s 11-year-old son John, who’s poised on the brink of growing up. And beyond the shadows of this comfortable living room in Chicago in 1959, lurks the absent father and estranged husband. John is waiting for him to come home and take him on a...

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Latest User Review

89.168.30.44) - 21 November 2006:

I'm a big Mamet fan, but didn't really get this play when I saw the original production 14 or so years age. I decided to give it another chance, but it still leaves me cold. You can't fault the staging or the performances, but it seems such a pointless play!...

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