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Fiona Mountford's rating
, Identity search in How to Disappear Completely
By
Fiona Mountford
14 Oct 2008
It’s not difficult to see why Fin Kennedy’s How to Disappear Completely... won the John Whiting Award for new writing. Kennedy takes the intriguing topic of identity (do we amount to any more than the data that is stored on us?) slots it into a sophisticated structure that uses a split time-frame and blends everything into a narrative that is crying out to be described as Kafkaesque.
Even so, there are times when Ellie Jones’s production makes all these promising elements seem mundane rather than compelling.
Advertising executive Charlie (Luke Norris) has been driven to drink and drugs by a grinding corporate culture. Burdened by debt, he escapes to Southend to do as the title says, yet a pathologist insists he is already dead. We just about care enough to want to discover why.
Until 1 November. (020 7407 0234, www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
