I suspect it takes a lot to get under an audience’s skin these days. Perhaps we’re desensitised by the screen – or perhaps we’ve simply never been suitably confronted by some Grand Guignol butchery – but recent attempts to get shock or unnerve strangers in the theatre dark have been well-intentioned, if not all that successful.
With the premiere of The Nether, we at last see a production that manages to be as confronting as it is thought-provoking. There are no cheap scares or bloodletting; instead, you exit the Seymour Centre unsettled by the strength of its premise, the calibre of performance and set design, and the queasy ethical concerns it compels you to confront.
Rehashing the plot would do the production a disservice, given it is at heart a mystery-drama and certain character reveals are inherent to the plot. Suffice to say we are in the near(ish)-future, where the internet has morphed into virtual reality and certain hideous acts in the real world can be enjoyed online without consequence. A detective is charged with investigating a hyper-realistic hideaway … and here we slide into spoiler territory.
The Nether has been likened to an episode of Black Mirror, an apt comparison that nonetheless fails to consider the production’s physical immediacy. It is a dark and troubling play, yet one that seems both timely and urgent. It is at times uncomfortable, at times quite sad. Above all it is intelligently and sympathetically presented, and is surely one of the most effective productions we have seen this year.
The Nether is running til October 7 at the Seymour Centre.
