As the play progresses, writer Sam Holcroft offers scenes where Adem, Čelik and his new Ministry assistant Mei (Tanya Reynolds) do readthroughs of the young playwright’s latest attempts – one of which involves a word-perfect script recounting their first meeting at the Ministry.
Watching these plays within plays, stories within stories, even characters playing characters, Holcroft’s script is like Pirandello with a Matryoshka doll fixation! While the overarching framework evokes an Orwellian oppressiveness, there is a surprising amount of laugh out loud comedy in A Mirror. Tanya Reynolds’ nervy, awkward assistant is a masterclass in delivering humour without resorting to caricature. Playing a poor sight-reader, her phrasing when playing a prostitute in Adem’s script is nothing short of hilarious. Miller is equally adept at making the preening, pontificating Čelik a manic figure of fun in places without ever losing the character’s underlying sense of threat. Adewunmi’s wide-eyed naivety offers the perfect straight-man foil to the proceedings.
Whilst the text of A Mirror, with its reveals and volte-faces, is slippery enough to keep you on your toes, it does serve to distance you from the characters. Never quite knowing or trusting whether to invest in a set of characters, over time they tend towards ciphers for the playwright’s thoughts on art, censorship and playwriting.