Review: THIS MUCH I KNOW, Hampstead Theatre

I’ve often described the kind of work the Hampstead Downstairs produces as ‘academic’ - This Much I Know takes this a step further by transforming the stage into a lecture theatre. Framed through a college lecture, Eureka Day playwright Jonathan Spector’s play spans multiple continents and multiple centuries in search of an answer to its central question: are we responsible for the things that we cause by accident?

As the play begins, college professor Lukesh (Esh Alladi) is lecturing on cognitive psychology. His explanations and examples gradually become more and more personal, until we meet his wife Natalya, and the world of the show begins to expand. We follow Natalya (Natalie Klamar) as she travels to Russia in search of the truth about what happened to her grandmother in the Soviet Union, while back in the US, Lukesh is grappling with how to deal with a student (Oscar Adams) from a white supremacist background. Between these two stories, further secrets from Lukesh and Natalya’s past begin to unravel. 

At one point in the production, Natalya visits a Russian contact who she finds working on a huge jigsaw puzzle - This Much I Know could not be more of a jigsaw of a play, with its multiple storylines intricately slotting together. This means much of the production, especially in the first act, feels a little disorienting. However, Spector ties up each thread with remarkable skill in Act Two, creating something that feels adequately satisfying to walk away from.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot going on here. This Much I Know is perhaps the most intellectual new play the Hampstead have put on recently, and requires a lot of concentration to fully enjoy. The cast of three perform a feat of accent gymnastics, quickly flicking between nationalities for the show’s multi-roling. While an efficient way to tell a big story with a small cast, this does mean that their performances can never reach their full potential, with all the multitasking involved meaning they can lack some depth. It's a valiant effort, though, and all three show off both their comedy and serious acting chops.

All this multi-roling allows Spector to highlight some unusual parallels between the many characters he creates. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is the parallel between Stalin’s communist rule and present day white supremacy. This is conveyed through striking use of TV screens, blurring the lines between the Soviet dictator and a twenty-first century white supremacist leader. There is, perhaps, a slight lack of nuance here, but it’s certainly food for thought, especially considering the play’s focus on whether we are responsible for the actions and beliefs of our parents. 

In his programme interview, writer Jonathan Spector describes the show as ‘a bunch of fun puzzles for a director and design team to solve’, and this could not be more accurate. The biggest stars of This Much I Know are director Chelsea Walker, Designer Blythe Brett, and Lighting Designer Bethany Gupwell. The three work together to create something both precise and surprising, creating first a lecture theatre and then a wide range of settings and atmospheres, through the use of projections, flashing lights, a subtle but intelligent set reveal towards the end. Walker’s directorial eye brings the many broken up scenes of this play together with clarity, taking something very complex and keeping it engaging.

While overall a psychological drama, there is an unusual sense of humour running through This Much I Know. Witty observations are paired with both satire and melodrama, finding the comedy in unlikely subjects like extremism and trauma. There are perhaps moments when the laughs feel a little jarring, especially when thick Russian accents interrupt more poignant scenes, but the humour of the piece as a whole is an unexpected but welcome addition. 

The play's framing of a psychology lecture also allows it to play with our expectations in a fun, thought-provoking way, invoking confirmation bias and magic slight of hand. These ideas could maybe have been embedded into the staging even more, but with a lot going on already, the little touches of psychological playfulness are effective.

This Much I Know could certainly be described as current - there are plenty of nods to recent conflicts - but it’s also the kind of play that would feel current in many years past and future. Beyond its political themes, the play has a particularly interesting take on storytelling, dipping its toes into something akin to autofiction through Natalya’s quest to reconstruct her family history in a book that’s not quite novel, not quite memoir. The writing about truth and fiction is unusual and astute, and one of the most interesting theatrical aspects of this production.

Jonathan Spector’s latest play slots perfectly into the Hampstead’s intellectual programming, providing one of the best examples of the specific brand of theatre it has become known to produce. While it won’t be for everyone, it’s a remarkable work, tackling big philosophical, political, and psychological ideas in a small-scale production. 

This Much I Know runs at Hampstead Theatre (Downstairs) until 27 January

Image Credits: The Other Richard
 

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