Review

I must say that I was a little dubious about this play even before I entered the Duke of York theatre on a warm evening last Tuesday

The last time I watched a Simon Craven play the audience was expected to join the actors on the stage and watch a live recording of a football match

That was all

The experience was quite unique

But not all unique experiences are fun

And sadly Nebraska in Deal fits the bill

If anything it is a great deal more oblique than his previous play

Again the audience is on the stage

But some are sat in the auditorium seats

Watching proceedings on a number of monitors

For all those who have attended board meetings

Nebraska in Deal explores the boredom and tensions in great detail

This large company is run by the autocratic Simon Craven whose word he likes to think is law

But as in real life it is not and for the first hour the previous years performance is discussed in detail

It is meant to be tedious and it is

And that is when the first surprise is revealed

Members of the audience are invited to stay overnight in a hotel in Norwich and watch a live stream of the annual board meeting the following day

The only qualification is that they must know a girl/woman named Sarah Tell

Needless to say apart from a few audience members who were up for an odd experience there were few takers

Although I was told that four people took up the challenge and spent a night in the Clarendon Hotel in Norwich

The audience in the first hour is asked to sit on the stage facing the members of the board and vote for or against certain motions

Later they are gifted chairs

With the actors improvising all kinds of odd motions were either passed or kicked into touch

These motions range from what colour ties the senior members of the board should wear to whether a substantial investment from China should be entertained

The actress Sarah Tell who plays Simon Craven’s Senior PA Sarah Tell has the busiest time passing all kind of glossy reports to anybody who wants one

I received one of these Annual Reports and they are very lifelike as if the company Nebraska in Deal is a real company and not a fictional one

It is although rather strange to say the least a unique idea which I have never come across in a theatre before

And then the play takes a rather troubling turn as all of a sudden the stage lights lights are dimmed and Sarah Tell (who took a toilet break) returns wearing just an old dressing gown and decrepit pyjamas

These appear to have cartoons of the late Bruce Lee printed on them

She flops on to a bed which was brought on to the stage in the half light and pours herself a glass of wine and then another and another and another

Whether the actress is sozzled or not is open to question

Ms Tell then starts a monologue to match that of Molly Bloom in Ulysses

If anything it is more explicit than Molly’s monologue and some of the detail cannot be easily discussed in a family newspaper

The actress weeps openly and farts (optionally) and then argues with members of the audience and other actors using explicit language and insults

It is an extraordinary performance from this actress who was last seen as Miranda at The Globe

The triggers of her grief are too many to count but her main beef is that Simon Craven has some peculiar sexual tastes and expects her to share his passions

If she refuses then her senior post is in danger

Sarah has a very sick mother in a nursing home in Norwich and she breaks her explicit monologue to ring a fellow actor in the city and requests that they and a member of the audience visit her mother at their leisure

This sleight of hand caught at least this reviewer off guard as it is known that Sarah’s mother is indeed in a nursing home in Norwich

After about forty minutes the monologue is silenced when a red light flashes next to the actress

She rises from her scruffy bed and leaves the stage inviting a random member of the audience to take her place

As this happens six identically dressed women arrive on the stage

They stand in from of the board members and are asked their names

Sarah Tell Sarah Tell Sarah Tell Sarah Tell Sarah Tell Sarah Tell

If you get my drift

They are being interviewed for Sarah Tell’s vacant position

This is deliberately tedious with bog standard questions and bog standard answers

Candidate number three is then selected and sits in Sarah Tell’s vacant seat

She takes notes and little else

At about this time after over three hours of bum numbing tedium/excitement (whatever your view) the play is halted and the board meeting is suspended as a vote of no confidence has been tabled against Simon Craven which will take place at three thirty the following day

I will not spoil the surprise other than noting that a member of the audience is asked to accompany Craven to his home in Richmond

When this play suspends itself all the actors and the members of the audience are wined and dined in the auditorium

With the exception of the lead actress who has totally vanished

I was sent out to Leicester Square tube station to see if I could see her

As you can guess I returned empty handed

The playwright in his programme notes explains that both he and the theatre want to lose money on the production

That is the raison d’etre of the whole thing

Nebraska in Deal runs for the next three weeks on Mondays and Fridays only (for obvious reasons)

Mr Craven’s play is challenging to say the least and at times is very uncomfortable as the audience is part of the play and some of the tears are real

A colleague who I will not name wept openly during Sarah’s monologue and had to leave the stage

Her tears were real believe me

If you are strong enough then I urge you to see Nebraska in Deal as it is unlike anything else in London at the moment

It is an amazing experience