Blogs

Whatsonstage.com Club Outing to Enlightenment

| London's West End |

12 October 2010

Edward Hall launches his very first season as artistic director of the Hampstead Theatre with the UK premiere of Shelagh Stephenson’s modern mystery Enlightenment and last night 75 Whatsonstage.com theatregoers came to see what this first production bodes for the rest of the season.

A clean white stage, minimal furniture and a range of both eerie and everyday projections put the audience distinctly on edge as this upsetting ‘murder’ mystery explores the meaning of materialism in a divided world and middle class fear and guilt.

Julie Graham puts in a good performance as the mother whose 20 year old son Adam goes missing during his year abroad. Her anguish is unrelenting and from the opening scene the audience finds themselves in a pressure cooker of confused feelings – pain, guilt and fleeting glimmers of hope. Enter amnesiac traveller played by Tom Weston-Jones. Did he know Adam? Why does he have Adam’s papers? His seemingly gentle manners and confusion mask some deeper menace and lies tumble over each other as the play draws to a close and hope glimmers once more.

Please do feel free to email your comments and thoughts about the play, as well as any photos you have of the event and the evening through to feedback@whatsonstage.com, we love to hear from you.

Thanks for joining us for this event, and do check the homepage to keep up to date on all of our upcoming Outings.

– Laura Norman

Laura is the Club Manager of Whatsonstage.com