Yes, the design for the Royal Court run was overall impressive, although, just like with "Chimerica", the design made use of digital media to fill in gaps in the story and create the illusion of momentum in the text.
Aside from the design, though, I found the production quite cold and oddly pitched. I question the decision to have the actors do American accents, as that might be one factor in the oddly stilted way the piece was performed. There is little in the text to indicate that it must be set in the US, and particularly with the young girl (who was struggling enough with the later scenes), it was an obstacle to truth.
For much of the play, I did wonder if the US production would be stronger, as it will presumably have more heart. But by the time we got to the last few scenes, I realized it wouldn't matter either way. The entire set-up of the play is poorly done, some of them for technical reasons that aren't worth going into here (it's very difficult to make any version of an interrogation play work), and some of them for the fact that until the last few minutes, the characters lack relationships with each other of any meaning.
The play has an interesting premise, but the world has not been fully thought out, nor has the playwright taken the themes and ideas as far as she could. There are interesting things to explore about the relationship between abuser and abused, or between people who can only love each other by proxy, but that doesn't really happen here. At only 70 or so minutes, there is plenty of room for her to actually write a real play.
I'm actually quite amazed this is getting productions on both sides of the pond, particularly considering some truly wonderful plays that have yet to get production.
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