Hapgood

This is a lesser known Tom Stoppard play. I managed to lead a group of 6 of us towards this one. Particularly nice because one of my party knew the commissioning editor at Hampstead so we were able to have a chat, or at least for me to pass on my gratitude for so much fine entertainment at the theatre for the last couple of years.

i was a little wary of this play as I had seen reviews saying effectively that this play was too clever for its own good. And that is the view I had of some of his better known plays like Jumpers and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. On the other hand Arcadia is one of my favourite plays. So which side of the "clever" line would this fall on?

Fortunately the right side in my opinion. Clever certainly, and a rather convoluted plot, but a very interesting, intricate and amusing play. Its a spy drama from the Cold War era, and it involves several twins, or at least we are led to believe they are twins. I really can't even begin to describe the plot, without getting very boring. Suffice to say the female spook (Lisa Dillon) who is the star of this play sets a trap to prove one agent is a double agent. Its not a believable story, but not outlandish either. And a serious side? Well maybe just to question whether the spying on either side was doing any good in terms of acquiring real information, or was just a game played between two sides.