What goes through the head of an ordinary man in the course of one day (aside from the obvious)? If this seems a quotidian subject, Anthony Neilson’s Realism is anything but. Revived at Soho Theatre, five years after its debut at the Edinburgh International Festival, Neilson’s play is an ambitious choice for new artistic director Steve Marmion to tackle as his opening production.
Compelling and sometimes hilarious in its honesty, it’s nevertheless a complicated portrait to pull off, demanding countless costume changes, sound cues and set pieces, as when characters crawl out of televisions, washing machines, in fact any domestic orifice in Tom Scutt’s ingeniously compact set. Hard to deliver slickly, then, and when pacing is lost, so too are the underlying emotions.
A touching Treloar is supported well by the ensemble cast, especially Golda Rosheuvel as departed girlfriend Angie and Rocky Marshall as Tim’s best mate and – in a scene-stealing cameo – his cat. When Neilson’s coda brings us back to reality not so much with the bump but the bruise of emotional weight, it’s only a shame not to have felt that ache more throughout.