‘Thanks so much for coming,” announces Clive Anderson as Hugo Leitski at the start of Winner’s Curse. He’s accepting an award for his lifetime of work in negotiation. It might be an evening of celebration for Leitski, but for the audience, it is a party we’d rather have not got the invite to.
The premise is an interesting one. Leitski looks back at his career beginnings, where he is an assistant to one of the representatives from two fictional countries meeting to battle and negotiate over a strip of land. Written by the former diplomat Daniel Taub, who has negotiated peace treaties in the Middle East, in partnership with Dan Patterson, it should have the sense of something thunderous. But, crammed into a form that feels undeveloped and dry, the drama is unsalvageable.
Instead, we’re left with a play that moves, jarringly, back and forth. First, we’re in the modern day with Leitski making his acceptance speech and attempting to engage a largely unwilling audience. We’re taught the techniques of basic debate and haggling, and then, thrown into a history of how Leitski, too, learned these lessons. It’s sold as an interactive play. With our neighbours, we’re confusingly encouraged to thumb war, discuss and barter. A sort of kinetic learning, perhaps? All of it feels artificial.
Clive Anderson is a chummy and warm-hearted ringmaster. His natural off-script quips add genuine zeal to the otherwise dreary dialogue. Arthur Conti is charming too, as the younger, more hapless Leitski. Dressed in a cricket jumper, he clings to his sleeves as he awkwardly fights to find his place around the negotiating table.
It’s a play that is supposed to mark the obstacles negotiators face when striving to make peace. But the point it’s arguing for is nothing novel. There’s hushed conversations, logistical arguing and questions raised about how much truth you should reveal – none of it, though, is unpredictable.
It’s a dragging few hours that leave you feeling blank. This could have been a worthwhile investigation into the secrets of how peace is decided. Right now, it’s a drooping, stale, attempt at an uncovering.
Winner’s Curse is at Park theatre, London, until 11 March
