Rêver Peut-Être by Jean-Claude Grumberg tells the story of Gérard B., an actor preparing to play the role of Hamlet who is charged with having murdered Polonius and accused of criminal ‘inhumanity’. The play charts an absurd and darkly comic descent into the world of dreams and the frightening intrusion of a cold, misunderstanding world on our deepest fears and desires.

Performed entirely in French without the aid of subtitles, there was certainly scope for such a piece to struggle to engage its audience for the entire duration. Thankfully, the direction of Lina Fradin resulted in a gripping 75 minute performance perfectly suited to the Corpus late slot. Its relation to Hamlet and its comment on French bureaucracy and interpersonal relations made Rêver Peut-Être an intelligent choice: it was not only a play in French but a very French play. For those unacquainted with the language, it would be worth arriving with time to peruse the accompanying booklet which helpfully summarises the action of the show.

I was intrigued as soon as I entered by the jarring edges and contrasting levels of the simple but elegantly designed set; it was refreshing to be immediately greeted with staging which clearly referenced the design of the publicity and thus the overall aesthetic for the show. Nela Grzesik’s set was visually arresting and surprisingly versatile – the bed quickly becomes the centrepiece and it was pleasing to see a play which was confident enough in its own coherence and impact to allow the audience to focus on the actors and a couple of key pieces of furniture. Ben Martineau, as well as helming the play with his tour-de-force performance as Gérard B., was responsible for the carpentry, which reinforced the artistic unity of Rêver Peut-Être.

The cast collectively gave an assured, almost flawless performance. Martineau naturally stood out as a charismatic and increasingly disturbed Gérard B., and his grasp of a text which was entirely underpinned by his character’s speech and actions was impressive. Tom Westland was excellent as the lawyer: his oblivious exuberance in the face of Gérard B.’s increasing psychosis and his mastery of physical humour showed true finesse. Eléonore de Sterio perfectly encapsulated bourgeois nonchalance as the wife of Gérard B. and also shone as Gertrude in her dream appearances. The main weakness of Rêver Peut-Être was a lack of tension at certain points at which it was called for by the plot, as well as some pacing issues in the second half. More work could have been done to tease out some moments into apexes of suspense and emotion, however, this was easily alleviated by the gripping individual performances.

The highlights of the play were undoubtedly when the sound and lighting design combined with the acting to create mesmerising dream sequences which, as the play progressed, became interwoven with and indistinguishable from the ‘real’ world of the play. Carlos Carlos Carlos (Sound Designer) and Mina Frost (Lighting Designer) created simple but effective transitions and skilfully articulated the eerie, absurd tone which is central to Rêver Peut-Être. One scene in particular was gorgeous in its yoking together of the various motifs of the play: we watch as the wife, appearing as Gertrude, gives birth to Gérard B., apparently in one of his dreams, when it is then revealed that this is a rehearsal in which the director character is proposing to make an addition to the text of Hamlet. As an audience member it was difficult to know whether to laugh or cry, a twisted reaction unique to absurdism and which few plays in Cambridge manage to elicit.

It is rare to have the chance to see a foreign-language play performed to such a high standard. This is an ambitious project which thanks to the confident performances of an incredibly tight cast and the nuanced handling of tech and set design succeeds in enveloping the audience in the psychotic mind world of Gérard B.

Rêver Peut-Être is on in the Corpus Playroom until 10 February