Aaron Loeb’s play Ideation is a sinister corporate tango choreographed to the discordant rhythms of ambition, office politics and moral issues which are not only blunted but enthusiastically shredded. 

It seems appropriate that the American playwright is also a senior executive in a large video game corporation.

In this play, currently on stage at Christchurch’s The Forge at The Court, his characters are outwardly engaged in a scenario which, at first glance, is so totally removed from reality that it might easily be a version of the product Loeb helps produce and market. However, beneath the surface of this compact and tightly constructed play lie the seeds of disturbing reality. [More] 

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The word ‘ideation’ means the formation of ideas and concepts, and there is at the heart of this American play an explosion of ideas generated by the dynamics of a team negotiating an appalling challenge.

I like the set: a universal office space with a table, six chairs, bottled water and papers. The audience sits close, around three sides, and a mirrored wall makes up the fourth. This serves as a ‘whiteboard’ and also as a constant observer of the cast of six characters – one of whom is omnipresent but never seen – and of the audience.

The sense that we are being watched is reinforced throughout the piece. An understated ambient soundtrack of industrial echo (an MRI scanning machine?) precedes the opening. There is something unnerving about the sound and, indeed, the mirrored wall. 

It’s all a little unreal and this is the strength, and weakness, of this production. We quickly learn that three of the group, who are here to formulate a disposal system for bodies in the hypothetical event of a mammoth disaster, have just landed from Crete where they sorted out some shady deal using questionable methods. They’re energised, self-congratulatory and are up for a quick-fire resolution of this new speculative problem. They’ve got 90 minutes to come up with a viable disposal system. 

In charge is Hannah, who has made her way through the glass ceiling yet has to constantly reassert her leadership of the team. The ‘boys’ are brash, self-absorbed, dominating; one, Sandeep – a migrant – offers a fresh outsider’s perspective. 

The New York Times describe this play as a ‘comedy’. Whilst there are humorous moments in the piece, particularly at the beginning, this production does not fully succeed as a comedy. Neither is it sufficiently weighty to engage with fully as a serious drama, although its themes have this potential. Why? For one thing it’s hard to care for the characters – we know little about them: one has been married for twenty years, has a mortgage and ‘real friends’; one has two daughters; one has a daughter who has made the soccer regional playoffs; one is an unattached migrant. There is an office affair which is exposed. 

The actors do their best with the script but it’s not an easy script. There are a few theatrical moments (for which we are grateful) but for the most part we are overwhelmed by dialogue in this real time scenario, and it all becomes a bit wearying. I look around the audience and we are not all fully engaged, despite, or because of, the relentlessly circular arguments. If you don’t really care for the characters, or their dilemma, if you don’t buy the premise, then it’s a hard sell. 

The characters assume American accents and this serves to compound the unreality of the scenario. I would have prefer to hear the piece in unaccented voices. I want some ventilation in the script. The actor playing Sandeep, whose voice has the least volume, delivers many of his lines with his back to the audience. 

Ideation feels like a thirty minute one-act play stretched over ninety-five minutes. It’s incredibly talky and at one point Hannah cries, “Who cares?” And, frankly, I’m with her. The twenty-year olds behind me on the way out surmise, “I suppose some of the themes have relevance?” 

I admire The Forge – it’s open theatrical space that is courageous enough to try experimental works. And on a cold damp night the Court is always welcoming – a warm whiff of wine and pizzas; a cozy atmosphere with comfortable chairs. I suggest you go along and see what you make of Ideation. It may really work for you.

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