Stoppard's first play in about 8 years poses it's own hard problems. It has to deal with having to explain difficult science in an effective way which engages an audience which doesn't necessarily know or care about the questions the play asks. In the most, this play succeeds. The science is easy to get your head around as the theatre has a habit of getting you to understand concepts yet, once outside, not being able to explain it without getting terribly confused. The Hard Problem also has an interesting morality debate within it, even if it doesn't answer any of the questions it poses. The main problem for Stoppard is that he only develops the protagonist Hilary leaving other characters to be incidental to Olivia Vinall's researcher. This frustrates me as this doesn't feel like a play from 'Britain's Greatest Playwright'. As the production goes, I have more problems. The acting is great; especially Vinall as the protagonist who creates such a complex character. However, the direction and design leaves something to be desired. In the transition from scene to scene, in order to change the set, a thing seemingly representing a brain flashes with some piano music accompaning a full stage crew in order to move furniture about in a way which could have been performed more effectively if better directed by Hytner. To be honest, this doesn't feel like the outgoing director's swan song. Stoppard describes his play as minimalist in style which is laughable when you see Ivory Van Hove directing true minimalism in A View From The Bridge. New writing at the National has always been daring; diverse; dangerous. This just feels too safe. It is not a bad play yet I feel it needs to take a few more risks and be adventurous to engage the audience once the 100 minutes running time is up.
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