Logic and reason face extinction in a hilarious new play roaring into London's Soho Theatre. Tim Foley's Jurassic is a conspiracy-fuelled comedy that tears factual debate to shreds, offering a sharp satire on our modern age of fake news.
A Daft Premise with Biting Relevance
The play centres on a furious clash between two men. Jay, played by Alastair Michael, is a palaeontology lecturer who finds himself out of a job. His position becomes redundant because the institution's new dean, aptly named Dean and portrayed by Matt Holt, holds the unshakeable belief that the film Jurassic Park is a documentary.
Why would a university need an expert in fossilised dinosaurs when, according to Dean, they have the real thing? From this absurdly funny base of illogic, the play snowballs into a boxing match of ideas. Jay's attempts to use reason are utterly futile against Dean's wilful ignorance and blatant disinformation.
Dinosaurs Ready to Rumble
The production, directed by Piers Black, uses its single set brilliantly. Eleanor Ferguson’s cage-framed design neatly mirrors the ongoing dismantling of the university and the suppression of free thought by Dean's cost-cutting regime.
The performances are perfectly pitched. Holt is eye-clawingly infuriating as the humourless, literal-minded dean. Michael is winning as the increasingly desperate Jay, a man with nothing left to lose who eventually stops clinging to reason and starts to fight dirty.
In delicious between-scene moments, the two actors transform, screeching and clawing at each other with necks taut and elbows outstretched, like two dinosaurs ready to rumble.
A Sharp Indictment of Modern Debate
While the central idea is stretched a little thin towards the end, with only so many ways for the men to circle a desk and shout each other down, the show never loses its dark comic bite.
Foley's writing remains a dotty delight and a searing indictment of the impossible nature of current political debate. It highlights the frustration of arguing with someone who plays by an entirely different set of rules, where made-up statements are called facts.
Jurassic is at London's Soho Theatre until 29 November. This is a roaring, timely comedy that questions what happens when society abandons logic for comforting lies.
