“Rat King” by Oliver Binns
Nottingham New Theatre

This play has left me completely confused, but in a good way, I may say, but I've no idea what was going through Oliver Binns mind when he wrote it.

Here's what i understood. Robin, played by Joe Strickland, is a 58 year old father who starts the play in bed and being hounded by nightmare rat creatures. they scatter his books, mess the place up and constantly terrorise him while he is asleep. He awakes a trembling wreck.

His daughter, Molly calls on him and goes to the kitchen to make a drink, only to disappear into a hell like portal.

Is this all in Robin's mind though as shortly afterwards, there is a knock on the door,and in walks Molly!

There are foul-mouthed Santas, possible sacrifices, visions of Robin in a wheel chair with a gory ending, and is his daughter really part of this illusion?

As you can see this left me with many questions, but i do love a play that makes me think about what I've seen, and while I may never get the answers, that matters not.

Technically, this is quite tricky play. Just before we were lead into the performance space, we were advised that there had been technical difficulties, and if anything does go wrong, to "be kind", but if I had not been told that, and if any difficulties had arisen, I would have been none the wiser. And the quirkiness of the above did fit in well with the whole weird vibe of the play.

There were strange voices speaking to Robin which seemed to stick and break off and were distorted. All of this worked really well within the inner madness of the play. Nice use of imagery and light as well.

One thing I really was not sure of was the idea to have some of the words sung, as in a musical narrative style, for me that didn't work.

Was all of this in Robin's imagination? Did Robin do drugs? Will I ever be able to look at strawberry liquorice laces in the same way again? Who knows? You decide by going to see it!

One of the strangest plays I've seen in a long while, but isn't it good to give an audience something off the wall and new, and something for them to question after they leave the theatre?

“Rat King” is at the Nottingham New Theatre until Monday 8 April