A short walk from Finsbury Park tube station, the Park Theatre has two different performance spaces; one 200 seat theatre (PARK200) and one 90 seat theatre (PARK90). The venue has a varied programme from classics through to new writing and it is the latter that currently occupies the smaller PARK90 space.As a play about herbicides, The View From Nowhere sounds like a tough sell on paper. However there are broader issues touched on by playwright Chuck Anderson that seem particularly relevant given the current political climate.
The play follows the story of Dr. ‘Prez’ Washington played charismatically by Mensah Bediako. A leading biochemist, think of him as the Jeremy Corbyn of science. Prez doesn’t dress like a scientist should dress or talk like a scientist should talk but despite all that he is at the top of his field. When he discovers a leading herbicide is carcinogenic (a term given to substances that have the potential to cause cancer) he becomes embroiled in battle with behemoth chemical company Alchemex which threatens to destroy not only his career but his personal life too.
Sadly much of what should be the heart of the play, such as Prez’s relationship with his devoted postdoctoral researcher Sandy played by Emma Mulkern, is lost to reams of dialogue that will confuse anyone with less than a comfortable knowledge of science. Anderson is clearly very passionate about his subject and has researched it thoroughly but his desire to convey as much information as possible is at the sacrifice of making the story truly engaging.
Despite this the play is smartly presented. Dan Phillips snappy direction combine with a futuristic set and lighting design by May Jennifer Davies and Chris Howells to give the production a clinical feel that works well with the subject matter.
The cast of four actors is completed by Math Sams as biochemist Tom Pennington and Nina Toussaint-White as Director of Corporate Affairs Rona Worthing who are both employees of Alchemex. The company are strong and would have been capable of achieving an ending with more emotional (and potentially political) impact had the events leading up to it not felt so rushed.
To succeed better in engaging people with the dangers of our growing reliance on and the increasing power of chemical companies, The View From Nowhere needs to become more audience friendly. The tests are back for this new play but unfortunately the results are inconclusive.
Benjamin Rubin, who, aged 24 penned his first and only truly groundbreaking work and in later years has literary notoriety but also bills to pay, accepts the invitation of a wealthy foundation to act as temporary mentor to Martin Wegner (played with jittery arrogance by Daniel Weyman) who is their latest ‘voice of his generation’ discovery. The result of this uncomfortable pairing (which seems flawed and motivationally unconvincing), is a week spent in the country: mentoring, nit-picking, fretting about frogs, generally mis-communicating and taking every opportunity to treat the Foundation’s administrator with disdain.