NOW OR LATER. To 1 November.

London.

NOW OR LATER
by Christopher Shinn.

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 1 November 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 9,16 Oct 3.30pm.
Audio-described 4 Oct 3.30pm
Captioned 14 Oct.
Post-show talk: 25 Sept.
Runs 1hr 15min No interval..

TICKETS 0207 565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.co.uk
Review: Carole Woddis 13 September.

Slight, but more than slightly memorable.
While other matters have recently overtaken the race to be the next President of the United States, the election proper in November still awaits us. In the interim, we can enjoy Christopher Shinn’s new play, set on the night of a fictional Presidential election. John Jnr (Eddie Redmayne), son of the Democratic candidate, is holed-up in an apartment with college friend, Matt (Domhnall Gleeson), idly whiling away the time when a bombshell is dropped.

Photos of John and Matt at a campus party dressed as Mohammed and `Pastor Bob’ – a Christian evangelical pastor - have begun to circulate. John has been asked to make an apology. He can’t see why he should, or why they are of any interest to his father. For him, it’s a purely private matter. For his father’s minder (Adam James), his mother (Nancy Crane), Tracy, a party worker (Pamela Nomvete), and not least Dad (Matthew Marsh) it is potentially hugely dangerous, requiring instant exercise damage limitation.

From which Shinn begins to spin a heated, ultimately moving discussion on freedom of expression, fathers and sons and the private versus the public. Shinn, who came to prominence in the UK through the Royal Court’s Young Writers festival, has never been afraid to tackle big subjects (racism, post 9/11, Iraq), usually from a personal viewpoint. Now or Later marks a shift, seeing him lay out his arguments with as much emphasis on the dialectical and intellectual as the emotional.

In the hands of Redmayne, however, the latter becomes considerable. Redmayne is a star in the making. As John, gay, idealistic, he conveys a quite extraordinary inner pain. The arguments around free speech and fundamentalism may have been too well rehearsed to surprise. But Redmayne, spelling out his beliefs with passionate self-righteousness, brings home all too convincingly the price his father’s ambition and political compromise are exacting on his son. That is a lesson as relevant to our political masters and their use of family members, as it is the other side of the pond. Slight but memorable. Dominic Cooke’s directs, Hildegard Bechtler designs the smart, ultra-modern apartment interior.

Marc: Adam James.
Matt: Domhnall Gleeson.
John: Eddie Redmayne.
Jessica: Nancy Crane.
Tracy: Pamela Nomvete.
John Sr: Matthew Marsh.

Director: Dominic Cooke.
Designer: Hildegard Bechtler.
Lighting: Charles Balfour.
Sound: Ian Dickinson.
Assistant director: Des Kennedy.
Assistant designer: Luke Smith.

2008-09-20 01:24:16