Writer: Serena Berman
Director: Madison Gerringer
Clever, but overlong, The Experiment examines the definition of the word ‘rape.’ With some top-notch acting, this three-hander based on a He Said/She Said situation occasionally runs like a superior episode of the long-running TV programme SVU: Law and Order, albeit without the cops, and its abstract ending is sure to send audiences home talking.
An experiment in semantics it may be, but the two-hour show begins with a more familiar experiment when, after a three-and-a-half-year relationship, Sadie and Will plan to open up their relationship. It seems like the perfect time, as Sadie is about to move from Chicago to Spain to teach English to schoolchildren. The couple is taking it really seriously and has written what they call “a manifesto”, but it’s more of a contract that requires both their signatures.
However, the tone of the play changes significantly when Sadie returns from Madrid and is contacted by Nisha, one of Will’s work colleagues whom he has slept with in Sadie’s absence. Nisha has news. She says that the sex wasn’t consensual. In short, she was raped. Will denies it. He says that they were both drunk, he so much that he can’t remember the night in detail at all. Who should Sadie believe?
George Solomou’s Will is nerdy, needy and childlike. He’s competitive but in passive ways. He enjoys having staring contests with Sadie while kneeling on the floor like infants. Sadie, played by a meticulous Larissa Crafford-Lazarus, is a good match for him. She’s quirky, spirited and talks 100 miles per hour. In contrast, Nisha (an excellent Ayse Babahan) appears older and more serious as she struggles to heal.
But everything takes an age to unravel. Conversations about how fish change gender go nowhere, and hints of a same-sex relationship fizzle out. When the lights come up for the interval, hardly anything has happened.
Structurally, the second half is more interesting as two scenes (one with Will and Sadie, and the other with Sadie and Nisha) are blended together. There are blackouts from the strip lighting above and on the stage, and a torrent of different opinions as the cast speak at the same time. There’s even a suggestion that Nisha is not real at all. But while these late theatrical flourishes are engaging to watch, the story itself never really moves on.
Elegy Theatre’s production is the UK premiere of American Serena Berman’s play, and it’s careful to follow the playwright’s advice. She writes that the question is not “what happened?” but “what now?” All three of her characters feel authentic, and the play is a great deal more sympathetic than David Mamet’s controversial Oleanna. The Experiment ends in a karaoke bar while Will tellingly takes down the set.
Runs until 21 June 2025
