George Clooney mention in Royal Court Play

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Narrative: An extraordinary surreal parable of modern life

By PATRICK MARMION

PUBLISHED: 06:45 GMT, 12 April 2013

Narrative (Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court)

Verdict: Disturbingly funny parable of modern life

Rating: You can always count on Anthony Neilson to pull the pin out of a theatrical grenade and roll it on stage. Neilson’s the maverick who, two years ago, whipped up a storm at the RSC with a shocking production of Marat/Sade that had punters walking out in droves.

Now he’s cooked up an extraordinary, surreal show about storytelling, upstairs at the Royal Court.
His world is peopled with lonely, metropolitan media types caught up in the endless production of fiction. One is a butch young actor (Oliver Rix) cast in a Hollywood superhero film — ‘Elastic Man’ — opposite George Clooney. But his success is marred by a stalker who keeps sending him photos of someone’s nether regions.

Other characters include a young barmaid (Imogen Doel) who grows horns after impulsively stabbing a friend, and a woman (Christine Entwisle) who believes her teenage son has killed himself as a result of taking anti-acne medication.

Neilson’s starting point is an ancient cave paintin,g featuring a hunter and a bison, that he uses to question the purpose of storytelling.

Surreal: Anthony Neilson has cooked up an extraordinary, surreal world, peopled with lonely, metropolitan media types caught up in the endless production of fiction

The big problem is that because Narrative has no conventional story line of its own, Neilson winds up sustaining interest by topping his last gag or quirky twist. Characters wander around Garance Marneur’s set of white boxes and broken mirrors. Are they trapped in a noodle bar? Or the afterlife?

The play is overstretched, at nearly two hours without an interval, but still often very funny.

The acting, too, is superb - baffled, tender, tragic, panic-stricken, blasé, batty and deranged. And there’s a brilliant speech about how the seating on a double decker bus reveals the seven ages of man.