Review: THE VIEW FROM NOWHERE, Park Theatre

After exploring themes of vanity and corporate culture in Marius Von Mayerburg's The Ugly One, Park90 now turns its attentions towards science and the environment with Chuck Anderson's brand new play The View From Nowhere. With Brexit looming large, the economic and immigration issues have been headline news, but what effect will that have on the scientific community? Or is big business involved too much for it to matter?

Professor 'Prez' Washington is a highly regarded biochemist who has just been awarded a grant to research the effects of pesticides on frogs, in order to work out what might happen to humans if it builds up in their bodies (for example, through drinking water). He's understandably pleased about this, however the money is coming from Alchemex: a large company that makes its huge profits from pesticides such as atraphosphate, and is keen to disprove any hypothesised ill effects. Washington underestimates just how far they will go to ensure the results come out in their favour, and is left questioning everyone around him, even his trusted post-doc Sandy.

This is a subject that most people probably don't know too much about, so as well as making a point the play seeks to educate - but in spite of Washington's assurance in his opening address that he'd only use one technical term, the entire play is so strewn with jargon that it becomes quite hard to follow. The programme does go into some background, but that doesn't make you an instant expert - and you shouldn't have to rely on that to get by. It's quite a short play, but it feels a little confused in what it wants to get across. Where it could potentially be a modern-day Galileo story, neither side particularly provokes strong feelings either way.

The performance space is set up in the round once more, May Jennifer Davies' simple design placing a Petri dish-like platform at the centre, onto which projections are thrown. These vary in their effectiveness; the microscopy idea is striking, however the breaking news graphics can barely be seen under people and props.

All this confusion doesn't give the cast of four a lot to play with - or perhaps there are too many ideas floating around, which prevents them from being able to focus. They often stumble over sentences, which is probably linked to the script's jargon content as much as anything.

The play begins promisingly, Mensah Bediako addressing the audience & facing out, but from then on it's very insular and not particularly inviting. Bediako does his best to try and inject Prez with some character, and Emma Mulkern makes a good attempt at showing Sandy's fierce loyalty, but ultimately it falls a bit flat.

Despite the relevance and potential of the subject matter, The View From Nowhere unfortunately doesn't work. I'd daresay the script makes for an interesting read, but it's the translation onto the stage that is problematic.

The View From Nowhere is at the Park Theatre until 22 July

Picture credit: Jamie Scott Smith

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