Some plays waste no time with one quick punch to the collective face of their audiences. Others prefer to fire off a rapid succession of emotional blows over the course of their varied running times. But the dramatic effect that LOTUS has on its audience is something rather different, if not altogether unique, and it takes a great deal of craft to pull off successfully…
Imagine getting into a conversation with a charming, sardonic and lethally skilled hypnotist. Slowly, over the course of an hour, you get sucked into the inner world of this professional as he or she tells you about him/herself while lulling you into a blissfully somnolent haze. The hypnotist then waits until exactly the right moment to stick a knife into your gut and waits patiently until you wake up at their command.
You feel cold. You put your hand to your stomach, only to draw it away covered in blood. Panic fills your mind like water in a sinking ship as you realize all too late what has happened. And the hypnotist smiles thinly at you and says:
“Now. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me how you honestly did not see this coming.”
Caitlin Murphy, Miriam Cummings, Samantha Megarry and everyone on the Hopegrown team are all such astounding hypnotists. With crisp economical dialogue and authoritative nuanced performances, they draw you into this eerily compelling story that dramatizes how a complete lack of privacy in the modern world can facilitate a complete loss of control over one’s circumstances. What happens when you try to bury your darkest secret in an age where there are no longer any secrets?
This is a play that entices and haunts. It glimmers with shrewd intelligence and frightening passion. Go and see it at once.
