REVIEW: RED PILL at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre 7 - 25 November

‘a play that will keep you thinking’ ★★★★

The twentieth-century playwright and theorist Bertolt Brecht is mentioned more than once in this play, and there is something Brechtian in Red Pill’s desire to expose the roots of a societal issue. This tendency to didacticism means that Red Pill can feel flatly expository at times: in one exchange, one character asks another to explain why anyone cares about Gamergate to him, she does so, and he confirms that he now understands the issue better. But though this can feel like jarringly ill-concealed exposition, the play is actually about the danger of explanations: that sometimes, when someone seems to know all the answers and the hidden causes of things, they are trying to lure you into accepting a sinister agenda. Other times, they’re just explaining something about the world that you might not understand from your subject position. The difficulty is in figuring out which kind of explanation is which. The play’s tendency to steer away from any kind of subtext then begins to feel like a kind of moral statement: that hiding meanings in appealing wrappings, so-called jokes, and implications is a tool of the enemy, a way of obfuscating their true opinions and therefore deflecting criticism. The play’s bluntness becomes an ideological statement.

The message of the play is that the financial crisis made it harder for young straight white men to resist internet radicalization, and that message means that there is something a little predictable and relentless about what happens in the play. That said, it’s an effective play that chillingly conjures the dangerous allure of the internet for someone who feels hopeless and cut off from opportunity.

The moments when an internet message board is conjured up onstage, based on the lighting and placement of the actors, stand out for their ability to create a menacing atmosphere out of very little. And the hovering presence of Tyler, played chillingly by Matt Penson, as an internet personality who harnesses the appearance of calm reasonableness in the service of a hidden agenda, brings a further sense of danger.

Although I felt a little frustrated at times by the way in which the exposition was delivered, what was being exposed – the way in which the internet encourages radicalisation - felt vital, contemporary, and inherently dramatic. This didn’t feel like a perfect play, but it did feel like one that I will keep thinking about.

Read our interview with writer Sam Went here

RED PILL at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, written by Sam Went 

Box Office https://www.thelionandunicorntheatre.com/whats-on.

Produced by Blue Bar

Cast:

Alex Ansdell (he/him) as Chris

Grace Lilley (she/her) as Cassie

Matt Penson (he/him) as Tyler

Chris Mawson (he/him) as Joe

Joe Rose (he/him) as Dan

Crew:

Sam Went (he/him) - Playwright

Beth Drury (she/they) - Director

Matt Neubauer (he/him) - Stage Manager

Bolu Dairo (she/her) - Set and Costume Designer

Ruth Harvey (she/her) - Lighting Designer

Becca Rowson (she/her) - Producer

Emily Foxton (she/her) – Associate

Reviewed by Clio Doyle