“Much of the communication is texting, inventively represented, in Josh Seymour’s edgily swift staging, by incoming messages delivered soliloquy-style from the hanging pods of Jasmine Swan’s set, graphically depicting the invasion of mental space by constant contact.”
“It is brilliantly performed and superbly staged (designer Jasmine Swan). Set in America in the autumn of 2017, one year after the presidential election, Jim’s life seems to be conducted solely with mobile phones and his multiple conversations (sometimes more that one at once) are visual as well as audible with the very clever use of several booths set above and to the side of the stage, lit as each contact responds...touching on drug addiction, relationships and indirectly wondering if we are being influenced, or even controlled, too much by social media.”
“The production is most effective at highlighting the play’s interest in the fragmentation of modern life. Jim is constantly interrupting his conversations to speak aloud his concurrent text exchanges with other people. The brushed-steel and neon-outlined alcoves – where most of the cast members stand – of Jasmine Swan’s multi-level set evoke giant smartphones. It’s a striking picture of where we now ‘live’.”
The Narcissist (Minerva Chichester Theatre)
Author: Christopher Shinn
Director: Josh Seymour
Designer: Jasmine Swan
Lighting Designer: Jess Bernberg
Sound Designer: Alexandra Faye Braithwaite
Movement Director: Chi-San Howard
Photographers: Johan Persson and Mark Senior