THEATRE REVIEW: X ★★★★★

X

30th March 2016

The Royal Court, London

It’s 30th March 2016 and there is an eerie, excited buzz in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at The Royal Court in London, as it happens to be the night of the first preview of Alistair McDowall's latest play X, set billions of millions away from Earth on the planet Pluto, where a lone research base, which on board has 5 crew mates, lose contact with Earth, and whilst they are waiting for a signal, or more importantly, hope, some start to see things out in the darkness, and throughout the whole performance you are found to be gripped in your chair, not knowing exactly what will happen next…

What I found really exciting about this production was for me personally the fact that it was the first time I had been to a professional London theatre on a preview night, and it was incredibly satisfying to know that everyone in the same room where going to be sharing the same experience all together, and the fact that none of us in the auditorium had any information about what to expect, there was just something so special about that, and it should be really important to understand that if you are thinking of attending this run of this stunning production, that you go in without knowing anything about the plot, because the tiniest thing could really ruin the tense atmosphere that you find yourself being propelled into, being tampered with just so much that you would then not be fully shocked by the twist and turns sprung upon you throughout!

Now because of the nature of the production, I feel like I can’t say too much about the actual action on stage, because the twists start happening quite early on into the show, but what I will say is to watch the clock. I would also like to say that the acting in this show was incredible from all involved, and all the actors made their characters so believable and authentic, which due to the fact that it was the first preview night, so they had just come out of intensive rehearsals leading up to the big night, they all felt extremely comfortable in their roles, but also the way the pauses were used throughout were really creative and helped set up the whole atmosphere, and you could really tell in these moments that everyone in the auditorium were focused because you would literally be able to hear a pin drop, it was an incredible experience!