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The
Palindrome Group: Rank Taxi |
| James Gledhill | |
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Wry Slat attends a job interview only to find himself enmeshed in a Kafkaesque nightmare, put on trial to justify his existence. The analysis of the dynamics of psychological confrontation produces some real tension with performances that sustain interest throughout. There are some interesting musings on the nature of identity, with a photograph and a CV juxtaposed as alternatives approaches to the consideration of the nature of a person. The play asks whether our paths in life are fixed from birth or whether we are formed by the accretion of experience. Is identity an essentiality one can penetrate, or are we continually reinventing and fabricating who we are? The writing takes an obvious delight in verbal dexterity and playfulness which, while occasionally approaching the virtuoso, can become convoluted. There are some overly-florid constructions, barbarous circumlocutions and unconvincing similes. How exactly is the whole world like a palindrome? It's fair enough to raise a fog of confusion and uncertainty, even if it's an obvious dramatic refuge. But it would be nice to think that the author at least has some idea of where we are going and why. It all comes across as a bit too clever for its own good. The play concludes with one character accusing another of being a psylist (?), which he defines as one guilty of a pretentious display of superficial knowledge'. It's either a tellingly ironic self-deconstruction on the author's part, or a tacit recognition that, while there's a lot of sound and fury, it signifies, if not nothing, then maybe not as much as it might appear. 11
August to 23 August.
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