This Rubik’s Cube of a drama has a false start: the performance has been delayed, we are told, as we are eased into its tricksy folds. Lukesh (Esh Alladi) is a lecturer who talks about cognitive illusions, the psychology behind belief systems and how the brain processes magic tricks – before we switch to scenes of his uneasy marriage to Natalya (Natalie Klamar).
From here, the plot grows far-reaching tentacles: Natalya’s backstory involves the early life of Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin and her later defection to the US. Lukesh, meanwhile, is dealing with a psychology student, Harold (Oscar Adams), whose father is a white supremacist leader. Harold is based on Derek Black, whose father founded the white nationalist website Stormfront, though it is not overtly said.
Fast scene switches from the United States to the Soviet Union ensue along with a blizzard of ideas on psychology, certainty and how to navigate totalitarian ideologies inherited from parents – both on the extreme left and the far right.
Playwright Jonathan Spector’s dialogue is incredibly sharp and satirical while thinking through big ideas. Just as in his play Eureka Day, staged at the Old Vic in 2022, this touches on issues of identity and race but has a more earnest and sweeping ambition in its complexity of thought.
And where Eureka Day was naturalistic, this is theatrically playful with scenarios and time frames segueing in witty ways. Swaddled babies turn into vodka bottles, Russians into Americans, the lecture hall into churches, dachas and the press conference after Svetlana’s defection.
Cleverly directed by Chelsea Walker, it is superbly performed by a cast who juggle many roles and accents at the speed of light. Blythe Brett’s set design is an over-bright lecture hall with screens (these are used as ingenuously as in Eureka Day) but the backdrop becomes more psychological with the patriarchs of the piece – Stalin and Harold’s father – appearing like Max Headroom on TV screens.
Natalya, in her travels to Russia, meets one character who likes to work on puzzles all day. We, the audience, are like this uncle, figuring out this play. Although the pieces don’t fully come together, it is so invigorating a brainteaser that it is more than worth our puzzling.
At Hampstead theatre, London, until 27 January
