When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other

by Martin Crimp

Go on lock the doors and see what happens. Show me how much power you really have.

When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other breaks through the surface of contemporary debate to explore the messy, often violent nature of desire and the fluid, complicated roles that men and women play.

Using Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela as a provocation, six characters act out a dangerous game of sexual domination and resistance.

When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other premiered at the National Theatre, London, in January 2019.

Genres: Plays, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

Published August 13, 2019

About the author

Martin Andrew Crimp (born 14 February 1956 in Dartford, Kent) is a British playwright.

Crimp is sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, although he rejects the label. He is notable for the astringency of his dialogue, a tone of emotional detachment, a bleak view of human relationships – none of his characters experience love or joy – and latterly, a concern for theatrical form and language rather than an interest in narrative.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd read all of Martin Crimp's plays when he was just starting out and found them by turns intriguing and exasperating, since few of them made objective sense. He'd fallen off my radar and I really hadn't read or seen anything by him in the last decade or so, and the only real interest here is that Cate Blanchett has chosen this new work of his to make her return to the National Theatre. The play has gotten decidedly mixed reviews, and I can see why. My main problem is the constant one with Crimp - he doesn't so much write plot and characters as diatribes around a certain theme, in this case the male/female dynamic and dominance. It's not unreadable, but it's not the kind of chewy showcase role I'd associate with an actor of Blanchett's caliber - seems rather a case of pearls before swine, and it appears, from the reviews and photos of the production, that the director has imposed a through-line and several staging innovations which are not germane to the text itself.

[massmarketbareback · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is more of a 3.5 but that might change on saturday after i have seen it. (update: works much better with a framing device)

[Irina Vasile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provocation leads to conversation. This is what I enjoyed the most about it. Crimp plays around ingeniously with the preconceptions of femininity and masculinity, portraying a constant fight for domination between the male and the female character. What is even greater is the role-switch that can symbolise gender fluidity. This is exactly why, by the end of the play, we as readers do not know which character controls the other one more.

[Frauke · Rating 4 out of 5]

this isn't perfect, instead it's provocative and somehow explicit and vague at the same time. reading the script really made me re-appreciate the live play. i still don't think they stuck the landing on the last scene.

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stan.

[ more: https://harryrmcdonald.wordpress.com/... ]

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not make it to the actual play in London, but reading this gave me an idea of just what I had missed. (Probably a lot!)

It twists your expectations (or lack there of) on each gender on it's head, while being quite abstract (if texts can be that?) enough so, i assume, that each viewer/reader may draw their own conclusions. Or perhaps, even if no conclusions, to provide some food for thought.

I wanted to start over as soon as i reached the end of the text.

[Jesse Gough · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't really like plays but i do love anything provocative

[Liza B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep coming back to this play. And the more I read it, the more I see, the more I fall in love with it.

[P · Rating 1 out of 5]

To its credit, the performance I watched played out more interesting than read off of paper. However, I can’t stress how utterly boring this was, something that tries to death to be a trailblazing exchange and is supposed to make us question who of Man and Woman is the beholder of more power, but falls as flat as a board.

There is no coherence, just pages and pages of two unhappy people who try asserting dominance over one another in absurd ways. Odd lines insinuating that minors are “attractive” and how fat people are worth less unfold awkwardly, with no point to serving the greater text, whatsoever.

If this carries with it more themes than what I have already mentioned, they have gone over my head. I could not finish and threw it away.

[Mikela · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing the play in London, I had to have more and drew myself into the book. Could not put it down and have further reread into it. It’s provocative and explicit and yet so much more to hold. It defies gender and twists what you think you know on it’s head. Thoroughly mind provoking!