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What happens when a student, upset by a small gesture that smacks of rejection, accuses a teacher of abuse? How can a single lie turn a group of seemingly decent people into irrational fanatics? And how does it feel to be the victim of mass hysteria?
David Farr’s adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s 2012 film confronts these questions in a clinical, merciless style. Set in rural Denmark, it focuses on kindergarten teacher Lucas, the recently divorced father of a teenage son. He’s a popular figure, admired for his careful handling of sensitive youngsters.
Yet when his 6-year-old pupil Clara misinterprets his refusal of a gift, everything changes. Lucas ceases to be a person and instead becomes an object — first of suspicion, then of loathing. Though Clara soon seems to forget about her accusation, copy-cat allegations multiply.
There are two kinds of hunt in this close-knit world: the locals’ pursuit of deer in the forest, and the mob violence of vigilantes. Both involve savagery, and in Rupert Goold’s taut production an apparently humdrum community reveals its dark hinterland. The central feature of Es Devlin’s design is a shed — made of glass, but claustrophobic rather than perfectly transparent.
Tobias Menzies’s performance as Lucas is finely controlled — a quietly devastating portrait of a man whose lonely fight to preserve his dignity takes him to the brink of madness.
He’s well supported by Justin Salinger, Michele Austin and Danny Kirrane. The roles of Clara and her perky classmate Peter are shared by several young actors: last night it was the turn of Taya Tower and George Nearn Stuart, who movingly captured the tension between childish innocence and precocious knowingness.
Until Aug 3 (020 7359 4404, almeida.co.uk)
