Review: White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Duchess Theatre)

Review by Ruth Sealey

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I generally try not to find out too much about productions before I watch them, preferring to approach them without being influenced by the views of others. With White Rabbit Red Rabbit playing at the Duchess Theatre, however, this approach was taken to an extreme, and friends who had watched the play refused to tell me anything about it at all. The whole thing felt a little shrouded in mystery, a secret club of those who knew what awaited but were unwilling to share. But would the experience of this show live up to the intrigue that surrounded it, or would the mystery prove more compelling than the play itself?

Following its premiere in 2011, White Rabbit Red Rabbit returns to the West End this year, celebrating its 15^th anniversary. Written by Iranian writer Nassim Soleimenpour, the play has since been performed over 3000 times and has been translated into 30 languages worldwide. At the time of writing it, Soleimenpour was unable to leave Iran after refusing to take part in military service and was therefore denied a passport. As a result, his script becomes his means of reaching beyond his country’s borders, and his words build a connection to the outside world.

Soleimenpour transcends time and distance through his writing. Through the words of the actor on stage, he speaks of “writing words to make me free,” while theatre itself “tastes like freedom” and offers him “timeless travel.” It is difficult not to be moved by the idea that words passing from page to performer to audience, words that are unmistakably his, can be spoken by another with such power.

The biggest challenge here is to write a review of a play without giving away the secrets that make it special. To mention the plot or the action is a disservice to the writer, yet I still want it to capture what makes this such a captivating and intriguing production. There is no set as such to describe, merely a table, two glasses of water and a step ladder. There is no lighting to comment on, with the house lights staying gently up, inviting the audience to see those around them. There is no sound designer to mention, as the only sound in the theatre is the actor’s voice and the audience response. There is no director to congratulate, as the actor’s only instruction is to turn the page and see what comes next.

Each night, a new actor takes to the stage, opens an envelope containing the unseen script, and experiences the play alongside the audience. On this occasion, that actor was the astonishing Lucian Msamati. Msamati is so adept at navigating the script that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish between his voice and that of Soleimenpour; so natural and convincing was his delivery. Msamati handled the humour with a deft touch and the darker moments with the gravity that it deserves. There were moments when the simple act of reading the script and discovering what Soleimenpour was asking him to do brought audible gasps and laughs from the audience.  No one will see Msamati perform again in this role, as a new actor takes the script in the next performance, but Soleimenpour’s words will still be heard and interpreted in a whole new way.

The play raises questions of obedience and how far people are willing to go, what they will accept, and when they choose to challenge what is put before them. The themes shift from humour and fable to darker questions about free will, accountability and choice.  It is a play, but also an experiment, one that entwines writer, performer and audience in the cleverest of ways. Watching an audience interpret and respond to instructions was fascinating, and perhaps we all looked at one another a little differently as we left the theatre, such was the sense of collective connection and responsibility it created. 

One moment that I will not forget, and that I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced, was seeing Nassim Soleimenpour himself come onto the stage at the end of the production. After spending the evening hearing his words brought to life, watching him embrace the actor who had carried them to the audience felt profoundly moving. 

White Rabbit Red Rabbit is extraordinary theatre and, although it may not be what you are expecting, there is enough in Soleimenpour’s writing for everyone. At a time when connections in society can feel increasingly fractured, the sense of collective experience created here feels both rare and valuable.  You will not get the same experience I did, and that is, after all, the entire point.  Yet that is precisely why this is a production not to be missed: a performance that exists only in the very moment that you watch it.

White Rabbit Red Rabbit presented by There and Then in association with Nica Burns plays at the Duchess Theatre until 2^nd November. Tickets from https://theduchesstheatre.co.uk/tickets/white-rabbit-red-rabbit/

Photos by Sarah Larby