The Hard Problem
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Writer: Tom Stoppard
Cast: Olivia Vinall, Damien Molony, Anthony Calf, Eloise Webb, Daisy Jacob, Parth Thakerar, Vera Chok, Rosie Hilal, Lucy Robinson, Jonathan Coy, Kristin Atherton
Seen on: 16.04.2015

Plot:
Psychology student Hilary (Olivia Vinall) is working on her thesis with her tutor Spike (Damien Molony). Hilary is convinced that there is something more to life than science and materialism, that there is something godly, whereas Spike is an absolutely materialistic and completely atheistic. But Hilary’s view helps her to secure a job at the renouned Krohl Institute for Brain Science when she answers the Hard Problem – whether consciousness can be completely explained by science – with no. There is a reason for Hilary’s insistence on something bigger than science, one that makes her pray every night for a miracle.

The Hard Problem is a brainy, well-acted and well-directed play that ends up a little too much on the sentimental side but is otherwise extremely enjoyable.

[SPOILERS]

I’m an atheist and what can probably be best described as a “socio-materialist”: I do believe that material things are the basis for everything, but that things are so infinitely complex and that the social/cultural aspect is strong enough to thoroughly screw with the natural basis that speaking of magic or spirit or some mysterious consciousness is not that wrong. And I generally don’t believe that atheists are somehow more advanced than theists, even if I have my problems with religion.

So when I say that this play is too sentimental, it’s not out of a Richard-Dawkins-dudebro-esque position like Spike is in (and what a wonderful portrayal of that position and the unlikeableness and douchery that comes with it). It’s that Hilary’s position is strong enough on its own that it doesn’t need some major coincidence/miracle to back it up – like when the child she gave up for adoption turns out to be her employer’s daughter and the most moral child in the study Hilary and her colleage Bo (Vera Chok) conducted. We don’t know what’s true anyway. The fun lies in debating the answers.

Stoppard trying to give an absolute answer undercuts that. That his play is so much with Hilary and so little with anybody else, that Hilary is the emotional and moral center of the play and everybody else’s emotions and morality mostly shine in their absence – it gives the play a lopsided feel, even as it gives Olivia Vinall a great playing field, which she uses much to her advantage.

But other than that, and just the usual “giving up a child for adoption will haunt a mother forever” shtick (which in my experience is much rarer than plays and movies make it seem), I very much enjoyed the play. The production and stage design was sleek, the brain hovering over everything looked pretty cool (though I could have done with fewer musical interludes, accompanied by glowing brain) and time passed extremely quickly. There is a lot to love here, making the sentimentality only a minor annoyance and not a major problem.

Summarizing:Not flawless, but really good.