Interview at Riverside Studios lands the style, not the punch

Interview | Riverside Studios, London, until 27 September.

Glossy design, strong cast – but this battle of truth never quite lands the knockout blow

“We all want to be seen. Not watched, not followed, but seen. Whether by one person or one million, that need for visibility shapes how we live now, endlessly available, endlessly posting, endlessly waiting for likes. But what happens when we’re switched off?” Interview picks at that question in a way that feels part Black Mirror episode, part sparring match.

This play has quite a history. The original Interview was a 2003 Dutch film written and directed by Theo van Gogh. Steve Buscemi directed and starred in a 2007 American remake, which he later re-edited and re-released; there was a South Korean version in 2003, and even a Hindi adaptation.

Each retelling has been shaped by its cultural moment, but the constant is the set-up: a bruised journalist encounters a woman he expects to dismiss, only to find himself disarmed, unpicked and possibly ultimately undone.

For this London staging, adapted and directed by Teunkie Van Der Sluijs, the story has been updated for the age of social media. Instead of a glamorous film actress, the female lead is now an influencer who also wants to be taken seriously as an actress. That shift puts the play into a contemporary frame, one where visibility, performance and personal truth are impossible to separate.

That’s Katya, played by Paten Hughes. She is matched against Robert Sean Leonard as Pierre Peters, an ageing political reporter forced into this assignment after a failed attempt to bring down the Vice President of the United States. He doesn’t want to be there. She wants to prove she’s more than an Instagram feed. Both want to come out on top. What follows is a one-night duel of egos and secrets, each revelation edging them towards what one of them calls “mutually assured destruction.”

The staging leans heavily on technology. Scenic designer Derek McLane turns Riverside’s biggest theatre into a sleek Brooklyn loft, using phones, laptops and cameras to expand the story. The walls double as projection screens, with video feeds, text messages and live footage playing out in real time.

At one point, Pierre rifles through Katya’s laptop; what he finds may be confession or rehearsal material for her next film, the truth deliberately blurred. When the set is fully revealed, it looks fabulous, the kind of design you’d expect to see Off-Broadway. But there are also odd, clunky staging choices: a curtain closed for an opening scene with Leonard awkwardly perched at audience level, later carrying his chair into the wings. Disappointing that the director and designer couldn’t find a more felicitous way of staging these short scenes.

As a two-hander, everything depends on the actors. Leonard is all rumpled gravitas, giving us a journalist who is cynical, weary and deeply compromised. Hughes balances steel and vulnerability, playing Katya as someone who knows how to weaponise charm while never dropping her guard. Together they generate sparks, keeping the ninety-minute running time tight and compelling. I didn’t check my watch once, and that’s not faint praise, I’ve sat through shorter shows that dragged.

But the script never fully lands. If the opening had been funnier, the darker turn in the second half might have hit harder. Too many threads are left dangling: the Vice President backstory, the laptop revelations, the hints of romance. It doesn’t quite bite enough, and without that bite the confessions and counterattacks feel less shocking than they should. With both professing not to tell the truth and inventing things – or acting – we are ultimately left questioning if anything we have been told is the truth.

Still, there is plenty to enjoy. The design is slick, the performances strong, and the premise, truth versus image, journalism versus performance, remains resonant. It’s not a wasted evening by any means. But if this production is destined for a further life Off-Broadway, it would benefit from a rewrite: sharper dialogue, clearer staging choices, and a stronger sense of payoff.

Verdict: A stylish set and two fine performances hold the attention, but the play never quite delivers the knockout it promises.

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