The Spoils

(The Trafalgar Studios, 25 June 2016)

It is the engineering approach to art, and to life. Identify a problem. Seek a solution. Do not judge. This is also the Enlightenment approach. The Spoils adopts it.

An individual does not choose many of his traits: how tall he is, how handsome (at his ideal weight) he is, and most of his tastes. Different individuals face different costs of trying to suppress in themselves the traits they find undesirable, such as pugnaciousness, impatience, or a blatant disregard for others' wellbeing. As a result, the question often is not how to reform an individual, but how to integrate him into the society, how to learn to live with him or to avoid him. This is the engineering problem in the play.

The proposed solution operationalises the principle voiced by Sarah (played by Katie Brayben): "And even though I don't know if you deserve to hear this, I think the world will be a better place if you do." This principle's compelling operationalisation is to reward desirable traits, behaviours and attitudes, instead of punishing undesirable individuals. An individual is a complex vehicle for traits. He ought not to be extinguished if one---or, indeed, most---of his traits offend. To reward a trait is to give the individual another chance.

Jesse Eisenberg's writing is intelligent. So are his characters. This intelligence is deployed to set up a problem that is nontrivial.

Scott Elliott's direction is impeccable. Each character is alive and is dying to live.

One of the reasons theatre remains commercially viable is that self-censorship in cinema (to secure ratings) remains profitable.