The Complaint review, Hampstead Downstairs

Anyone who has dealt with public service bureaucracy - from child protection to recycling to failing carers - will find the suspension of reality in Nick Whitby's new play, The Complaint, scarily plausible. We are in a middle eastern type nation overseen by a King President. Afra has made an official complaint to the administrators of The Society. As modernisers with despotic tendencies, the powers that be are keen to show empathy without providing resolution.

The compliant

Afra (Zora Bishop) is summoned for a series of interviews. Her interrogator, the smooth Mr Tabutanzer (Peter Bankole) in his English suits, explains the gradations of complaint. These rise from degrees of concern to small and medium issues and then full on problems. It is a Kafkaesque world. The effort is all on defining the form of Afra's complaint. We never learn the content.

As Mr Tabutanzer and his team tie themselves up in comedic red tape, Afra is lost in a vortex. Committed to the truth, she submits to polygraphs and torture to prove she is sane. Still no one asks the nature of her unhappiness. At one point the beguiling Dawn Birdcatcher (Nathalie Armin) - the subject of Afra's second complaint - is put in charge of investigating herself for a year and given a new office in which to complete the task.

In conclusion:  Every scene has resonances with domestic stories of municipal misadventure and inquiries into inquiries. Intimate, inclusive, and with top notch acting, Shaun Usher directs a thought-provoking, ninety minutes of witty drama.

References:
Hampstead Theatre, tickets

Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 3EU. This production is now over.