Minority Report – Lyric Hammersmith

Minority Report is a staging of a Nottingham Playhouse and Birmingham Rep co-production. This premise is best known for the 2002 film starring Tom Cruise. This play explores free will and the idea of justice in this adaptation of Philip K Dick’s short story of the same name, written by David Haig.

The play opens with a ceremony of the 10^th Anniversary of the British Pre-crime department. In which the CEO Dame Julia Anderton is extolling the virtues of detecting Pre-criminals. However, she soon finds out that she has been identified as a pre-murderer. She must go on the run in an attempt to prove her innocence and discover truths about her organisations that have been long buried.

Jodie McNee led this play as Pre-crime CEO Julia, she commands the stage and explores so many emotions and situations that we see a fantastic performance from her. Although some displays of emotions almost feel bombastic.

The dialogue was generally well done. However, there were occasions when lines felt stilted or the cast members speaking felt unsure. These may have been directive choices by director Max Webster, but I felt it worked to the detriment of the play. Even though I was usually immersed these moments would bring me out of it. The writing was humorous throughout, with jokes that perfectly land with this generation, through refences to modern culture that are seen as vintage or retro for the 2050 setting of the story.

The production design by Jon Bausor was great. It mostly appears decently futuristic and although it was not always convincing it did work well. All the different locations felt distinct.

The physical work by the cast was fantastic. Specifically, scenes in which pre-criminals were being caught, you could feel their confinement through their physicality which endeared more sympathy for them and the plight of Cogito. Which is a rogue group that has been attempting to rally against Pre-crime. Although at other times such in the scenes representing a bustling Capital city the movement appeared chaotic.

A highlight of the play was the use of the AI character David played by Tanvi Virmani. She was the source of a lot of humour. Her subtlety of an AI with a feisty personality, appearing as a hologram was enjoyable.

The cyclical nature of the story worked well. We saw the complete overhaul, or reversal of Julia’s thought process of the need for investigation of Pre-crime.

Although, there were multiple parts of the play that needed more depth. I did want to find out more about the rebel group Cogito and Fleming’s motives. His character was not really developed. I also wanted more of a resolution on Julia’s relationship with her husband and the motives of the American Pre-crime CEO Michelles’s motives. I think the fast paced 90-minute timing of this show doesn’t have enough time for this depth of exploration.

This was a fantastic production exploring how beliefs can be challenged.

Minority Report is playing at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until 18^th May. Tickets are available here: https://lyric.co.uk/shows/minority-report/

Reviewer: Zara Odetunde

Reviewed: 29th April 2024

North West End UK Rating: