Boggling adaptation is flawless fusion of tech and technique

THE perceptions of a person depressed by a break-up and obsessed with the colour blue are splintered across four video screens, and between three actors speaking into microphones and cameras, in this boggling adaptation of Maggie Nelson's book.

- Nick Curtis

That those actors are Ben Whishaw, House of the Dragon's Emma D'Arcy and the estimable Kayla Meikle attests to the pulling power of director Katie Mitchell. The adaptation is by Margaret Perry but Mitchell is the guiding force of this intriguing, precision-tooled work that's also defiantly full of intellectual name-dropping.

An example of her "live cinema" concept, which she developed in Germany and feels is greeted with "misogyny and rage" by critics here, it's a bold opening statement for David Byrne's tenure as the new artistic director of the Royal Court. I found it captivating, though not always for the right reasons.