Who can you trust? Whose reality do you believe? Everything just seems a little bit off. Nothing appears as it seems. No, I’m not watching fox news.
I’m watching Anthony Horowitz dark psychological thriller play “Mindgame” that has come to the West End at the Ambassador theatre for three weeks only, after a successful UK tour.
Set in a doctor’s office in Fairfields, an asylum for the criminally insane, we first meet Styler (played by Andrew Ryan), a writer of “true crime” stories. We hear that he has come here to do research for his next book. He is eager to interview one of the patients known as Easterman, a notorious serial killer. We hear he has been waiting to meet the doctor for two hours having driven for three and a half hours to get to the meeting.
Everything appears relatively normal until the doctor finally arrives. Dr. Farquhar (played by Michael Sherwin), the hospital director, initially cannot recall agreeing to the meeting and is reluctant to introduce Styler to Easterman.
We also meet a very nervous psychiatric nurse, Paisley (played by Sarah Wynne Kordas). Things get seriously gritty on her arrival. What is in that ‘liver’ sandwich?
We are then taken on a journey of twists and turns for the rest of the play that makes you ask who is the ‘sane’ person here. Is this a case of “gaslighting”? Why is Styler now in a strait-jacket?
Mindgame is a really smart fast-paced play. It delves into the darkest psyche of the human condition of sociopaths and their dissociative behaviour. It challenges you to question, who should you believe?
Anthony Horowitz has written over 40 books. He is the writer of Foyle’s War and has written episodes for Midsomer Murders. This play does not disappoint and is well worth going to see.
To book tickets visit: the Ambassador theatre .
