BWW Reviews: PURGE, Arcola Theatre, February 27 2012

In the tight space of the smaller of the Arcola's studios, Purge blazes like a forest fire - a supercharged, searing experience that only theatre can create. From the gruesome black and white film that shows us something – thankfully not quite everything – of what happens in cellars controlled by the agents of a totalitarian state, to the play's blood-soaked denouement, the audience travels a rollercoaster of emotions from disgust through hope to... to... to whatever each individual takes away from this complex thriller that refuses to reach for the trite option of portraying goodies vs baddies.

Finnish-Estonian multi award-winning writer Sofi Oksanen's sets her tale at two pivotal points in Estonia's history – the chaos caused by 1940s Soviet land reforms that provoked mass deportations to Siberia and the chaos caused by the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the early 1990s. From a time when selling wheat brought exile and often death, to a time when selling women brought exile and often death (but only for the women - the men got rich with impunity). The politics, though ever present, play second fiddle to the choices men and women are forced to take when disorder, amorality and ruthlessness fracture social structures at all levels from nation state to family. “What should these people do?” is the question that drives the narrative – a question that locates the play not in the Baltic States, but in our hearts.

The performances are uniformly strong and nuanced, each actor capturing the moral ambiguity of their characters not just in the words (and there are some long, but electrifying, speeches to deliver) but also in meeting the demands of director Elgiva Field for unflinchingly physical interaction, from the tenderness of washing another's back to the brutality of assault. As the older and younger Allide Truu, Ilona Linthwaite and Rebecca Todd are magnificent - flawed, frightening and frightened – and Johnny Vivash's Martin is utterly repulsive in his blind devotion to ideology over humanity..

Purge is the kind of production that thrills the patrons of The National Theatre – deeply moving, wildly different and beautifully conceived and performed. And you can see it in Hackney for a tenner – believe me, you should.

Purge continues at The Arcola Theatre until 24 March 2012