The Hard Problem review, Dorfman Theatre

So,  as I understood it, The Hard Problem is this: psychologists divide human behaviour into egoism and altruism, but when you deconstruct them they're essentially the same. We are shown this in Tom Stoppard's The Hard Problem, through a series of encounters and conversations and actions linking acts that further or protect others, to the individual's need to please. We show a duty of care or selflessness, because coversely, it confirms our sense of self.

The story is a simple one. Hilary, who had a baby at 15 and is an energetic late-starter in academe, has a galloping need to explain consciousness. This puts her at odds with the professors and mathematicians at the Krohl Institute for the study of the brain who are testing consciousness as a function of pre-programmed responses. Is it right to correlate test findings from mice, which have zero thinking capability, with outcomes for humans who have infinite thinking capability? Surely, posits Hilary, the question should not be 'how' does the brain work, but 'who' works our brains? Is it God?

Hilary's nightly praying ensures the cynically smart scientist, Spike, does not become a long term love interest, and it gives her polar opposite, the Cambridge-educated quant, Amal, licence to explain gaming theories and algorithms over badly cooked suppers. Meanwhile, the mathematician, Bo, is getting surprisingly even statistics from her work with kids, and Mr Krohl, who owns the institute, discovers he has more in common with Hilary than might have been thought. The characters are interesting, but their characterisation is a bit thin. So too is the narrative, which is essentially just discourse.


In conclusion: The Hard Problem is never boring and there are funny moments, but it's what is being said that's interesting, not how or where it's being said. There are few dramatic surprises, and that's surprising in a piece that's essentially about the random nature of human behaviour.  Great performances from Olivia Vinall, Damien Molony, and Parth Thakerar.

References
The Hard Problem, Tickets
Photograph, Alastair Muir, from telegraph.co.uk


Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1.    Run ends 27 May