Bluets at the Royal Court Theatre

Unsettling and digitally crafted, Bluets at the Royal Court Theatre, Margaret Perry’s adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s book, dives deep into perceptions of and reflections on depression after a heartbreak. And that’s to try to summarise it in a single sentence. Described in a few more words, we can say this 70-minute production discloses intangible thoughts and mournful states of mind expressed through a whirlwind of dreams, memories and daily routines. The intriguing staging makes the show utterly compelling, challenging hybrid forms of theatre and malleable texts.

The protagonist is split into three voices, with slightly different slants, that act as a unique entity. These three internal voices are the way, the channels through which the protagonist speaks. The scenes are not soliloquies or disconnected capsules of actions, but rather broken up, jumbled and recomposed: as the sentences are spoken by the performers in sequence, one phrase or even one single word each, so the scene is decomposed cinematically among the same performers. Now we have a close-up, followed by a motion, now it’s an interaction with hands touching, then it’s someone picking up the same glass we have seen the other actor filling up a moment before: the resulting clip is a jigsaw of bits played out by the three people on stage.

In support of this flow, director Katie Mitchell has adopted the live cinema technique that allows one to craft a compelling visual, made up of live performance with its smudges and vibrancy, powered up with the multiple pre-recorded backgrounds and the possibility to direct the audience’s view toeing a specific graphic line. In the beginning, the pace is rapid and, combined with the fact that the initial statements have not even a hint of the factual, but instead are rather vague in a totally abstract realm, it’s a perplexing start that makes the theatregoers an intruder or the production an avant-garde work. But as some events and happenings begin to populate the script, the intersection of facts and sentiments becomes clear, in the blue spiral of sadness and obsession the protagonist lets herself in, for a shared journey.

Emma D’Arcy, Kayla Meikle and Ben Whishaw are marvellously synchronised throughout, picking up the lines from each other with considerate pauses, and even sticking their arms into the shirts with the exact same tempo. They truly feel the swinging moods of the same face, the confused composition of depression. The coordination with the screen is another interesting element that is here mastered by the cast and the other company members, particularly the stage managers and their quiet interventions.

Cristiana Ferrauti
Images: Camilla Greenwood

Bluets is at the Royal Court Theatre from 17^th May until 29^th June 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.