Simon Ward reviews The Sequel at the King’s Head Theatre

Lucas Closs’s new comedy-drama The Sequel is a hugely entertaining extended riff on what it means to be a writer and what any writer owes to the people and places where they find their inspiration. It is a tour de force where no narrator can be relied upon, but where the power of story is demonstrably irresistible. Peiyao Wang’s rather lovely set does its best to counter the huge ink blots that I presume are from the other hit currently playing at theatre, In The Print. It’s a very deft touch to use the play poster as the cover for the best-selling novel at the heart of the play, and Imy Wyatt Corner’s clever direction ensures that we are thoroughly gripped by the narratives that the characters weave.

The story follows Grace Thoth, aka GT (Nisha Emich) as she revisits the small village which formed the backdrop for her hugely successful novel. She is overwhelmed to find how much of an impact her writing has had – the cafe is now a museum and there are even action figures of the characters and herself. The wise mentor in her novel, John (Jim Findley), is now a tour guide, so intermingling his own stories into her world. As unsettling as this is, it is more unnerving still to be confronted by cafe-owner Martha (Julia Pilkington), who is incandescent that she and her mother were left out of the book.

A witty comedy of ideas and competing narratives is bound to bring the work of Stoppard to mind, not to mention Shakespeare’s masterful deployment of the play within a play. All too aware of the ‘anxiety of influence’, Closs makes sure we cannot miss the allusions to the plot of Hamlet or the pretty much verbatim quotations from Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. These work brilliantly in demonstrating once again that nothing is produced in a vacuum – everything can be material. But when the material is people’s lives, where does the author’s responsibility end? Just as the residents of Stratford-on-Avon no doubt have mixed feelings about the impact on their town of its most famous son, so the impact of GT’s legacy on this village is both welcomed and resented. Nevertheless, if you are destined to be a tourist attraction, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to rekindle the public’s interest in the product, perhaps with something fresh and new? It may be a pain, but if the choice is slow decline, then a sequel would be highly desirable. If only there was some way to convince GT that there is another seam to be mined. The play delightfully teases out the question of who exactly is controlling whom.

The atmosphere of darkly comic intrigue is much enhanced by Deniz Dortok’s music, ably performed by Dortok himself and Lydia Cochrane. Catja Hamilton’s lighting design also does much to add to the charm. This is a highly enjoyable exercise in meta-theatre, with accomplished performances, which is not afraid to challenge its audience to engage deeply with its ideas.

The Sequel is running at the King’s Head Theatre, 116P Upper Street, London N1 1QP until Saturday 2nd May