Review: Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre

Chimerica 

Almeida Theatre

Reviewed on Wednesday 29th May 2013

Chimerica begins in Tiananmen Square (Beijing), 1989. The central storyline follows Joe, a young American photojournalist who captures a piece of history. Twenty years later he discovers a cryptic message in a Beijing newspaper which drives him to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Joe goes on a search to find out who this man was, what happened to him and whether he could still be alive (and of course he finds love along the way).

At a glance Lucy Kirkwood’s story seems a little complicated. However, with a grand running time of three hours and five minutes the story is actually very easy to follow. Unfortunately at times the writing becomes a little frustrating as it feels like Joe is just going round and round in circles and by the interval I was longing for something key to happen. It would be easy for such a long play to become slow in places but due to the short, choppy nature of the scene structure the piece is consistently fast moving and at times very intense. At no point did I find myself bored or losing interest - despite the story going round in circles.

Es Devlin's set design is the best I have seen for a while. At first I sighed at the sight of another revolving stage but at the centre of the revolving stage is a cube which opens up at various points throughout the show to reveal various sets. It is hard to describe just how slick and smooth the design is, giving the production a modern and almost ground-breaking feel. I am not usually a fan of projections but in this production projections are used in an extremely effective way, setting the scenes and displaying some of the photos which Joe takes - it is very cleverly done.

The cast are strong and perform the challenging piece exceptionally well. Stephen Campbell Moore gives a charismatic, charming portrayal of photojournalist Joe. Throughout the piece Joe experiences many highs and lows, both in his professional and personal lives. Stephen carefully tackles each step of Joe’s eventful journey and gives a very likeable performance.

Claudie Blakley also stands out as Tessa. While the play is mainly political, Tessa’s storyline brings a touch of humanity to proceedings. The love story between Joe and Tessa provides many ‘Will they? Won't they?’ moments. Claudie's performance is bold, confident and at times witty.

The scenes which delve into some of the events which have taken place in Beijing are shocking and incomprehensible. I don't want to give too much away but it is truly heartbreaking to see Zhang Lin (played by Benedict Wong) re-live what he went through. The horrific nature of a few scenes have been dealt with in a delicate fashion and have great impact. I was left with plenty to think about.

Chimerica is a play with a very important story to tell. If you want to see a good political thriller I cannot think of a better show.

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
andrew@westendframe.com

Chimerica runs at the Almeida Theatre until 6th July 2013.
Please visit www.almeida.co.uk for further information and to book tickets.

Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Follow @West_End_Frame