Arlington written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, is the Tony-Award-winning writer of Once but don’t expect any happiness in this dramatic show; Walsh’s play is a dystopian cruel world of surveillance and isolation.

The play opens to a woman locked in a room, forced to share her memories in return for food and sleep. The characters of Arlington ‘live’ in state-controlled towers. It is an inhuman world of unusual punishments but it isn’t until the third scene that it becomes clearer what is happening.

Director Anna Houston arranged a zoom read of Arlington during Covid 2020 and found understanding in the characters’ desperate yearning for connection, touch and intimacy. After experiencing extended isolation, Walsh’s story made more sense.

There’s a permenting sadness throughout Arlington. The world is in the grip of a brutal regime. Characters are forced to tell stories for their keeper’s entertainment but simple tales become emotional and morbid. Their bleak existence accentuated by the juxtaposition of the boppy 1970s and 80s music that plays in the background.

At times this show was unsettling to watch. The second scene was 25 minutes of a woman (Emma Harrison – also the show’s choreographer) dancing erratically as soft classical music plays. Completely wordless, she moves in a repetitive pattern, becoming more and more maniacal, throwing herself across the stage and hitting her head onto the wall. As the scene builds to a crescendo, the peaceful music shifts to staggering, loud pulsing noises. The audience forced to watch, with questions unanswered, until finally and almost understandably, she makes the choice to end it.

By the third scene, it becomes apparent what this grim world is. The watcher (powerfully played by Jack Angwin) from scene one is a changed man; imprisoned, beaten, barefoot, and bloody. Characters are tortured as the keepers try to break them with sleep restrictions and intense deafening sounds.

The actors threw themselves into their roles. Phaedra Nicolaidis is especially heartbreaking in her portrayal as broken but hopeful lsa. Along with the brilliant acting, the bright spark in the drama was the technical creativity. Kate Beere designed the set, slicing it into two halves. The messy control room that looks lived in with chip packets and rubbish in sharp contrast to the sparse and utilitarian locked rooms. Audio visual effects created by Aron Murray changed the mood with clever cityscapes and forest imagery screened onto the walls. Arlington pushes sensory experience to extreme levels, especially through sound (via composer Steve Toulmin).  

Arlington is reminiscent of the Korean survival thriller Squid Games, which holds the record as Netflix most popular series of all time. It also made me think of the plight of the many captive political prisoners and wonder if the acts in Arlington are really so different from present day life?

Arlington will not appeal to everyone. On the night this reviewer attended people left after the first scene. If you go to the theatre for laughter and light entertainment then this is not the show to see. Arlington is captivating and confounding. It will open your imagination as you try to wrap your head around what is happening.

See Arlington if you want to view challenging theatre.

4 stars.

The 90 minute (no interval) show contains depictions of suicide, as well as strobe lighting, haze smoke and loud or sudden sounds. 

Presented by Empress Theatre and Seymour Centre. Playing until 24 August 2024. For more information visit Seymour Centre