A Mirror

by Sam Holcroft

…With great pleasure Layla & Joel Invite you to celebrate their marriage. Dress code is smart casual. Doors at 7.30 p.m., followed by the exchange of vows. And at the signal, the entertainment will begin.
(This performance is being staged without a licence from the Ministry. We recognise the risk that each and every one of you is taking by attending and we salute your courage.)…
A Mirror is an elusive, explosive play by Sam Holcroft, interrogating censorship, authorship and free speech. It premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Jeremy Herrin, and with a cast including Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Reynolds and Micheal Ward.
'A beautifully crafted, mind-bending piece of work' - Evening Standard
'A Pirandellian wedding drama that achieves a series of satisfying surprises… delights in the theatrical trickery of dual identities and false realities to throw a final surprise punch' - Guardian
'Bold, inventive and original… a journey of discovery, a hall of mirrors, that takes us into a series of intricate boxes, of plays within plays, where nothing is quite as it seems… I loved it' - WhatsOnStage
'Intriguing, twisty, metatheatrical… an like nothing else you'll see on London's stages' - Independent

Genres: Plays, Theatre

126 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2023

Reviews

[Sophie Maria Wojna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this play was a fantastic experience. Done all in one sitting - it’s greatly paced, a unique format, excellent dialogue, fun to spend a couple hours trying to figure out. The setting & the premise (about censorship and dramatised truths) gripped me from the start, and I loved imagining how this play could be staged. You know something’s good when your brain is working overtime imagining how actors are acting it out.

If anyone has the chance to go see this play on in the West End right now, I’d go check it out, because I loved reading it so I can only imagine how it must feel to actually experience it.

(It’s a 4 stars instead of 5 because emotional connection & evocation is what lifts something up to five stars for my own personal experience, but I honestly loved it and highly recommend it!)

[Anne-Marie Wojna · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time in a long while I’ve read a play that I think has just as powerful an effect being read as being watched. Hoping to watch this, as it’s on right now, but this was very cleverly written. Highly recommend, read in practically one sitting and couldn’t put it down. Lots of food for thought about the power of truth and stories. Will be reading political satires more often. Easy 5 stars.

“There is no emotion more inimical to creativity than fear.”

[Anne Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s a common mistake, thinking the tighter, you lock, everything down, the harder, you wrench things into place, the safer you’ll be. When the reality is, you’re just hastening the catastrophic collapse of the system.”
A brilliant expose into art, censorship, verisimilitude, and power that illuminates the magical impact of the theatre as The Seeing Place. This is the place we go to see the truth. True artists cannot be silenced.

[Madelein · Rating 5 out of 5]

thoughtful and darkly funny. i would love to see this live or stage it myself.