Can a paedophile get to heaven? That’s the question at the heart of a new play at the National Theatre

Can a paedophile get to heaven? That’s the question at the heart of a new play at the National Theatre

The dialogue in Downstate, the latest play at the National Theatre (until 27 April), is sharp and thoughtful – but the set and props are, unusually for a theatre production, almost equally eloquent, teasingly revealing their full meaning throughout the two hours.

Waiting for the lights to go down, we see, on the open stage, what looks like an institutional room of some kind: cheap table and chairs, a year planner on the wall, a little kitchen visible off. A school, hospital or business staff room, perhaps?

And yet, if so, there are no personal lockers, the obligatory furniture of a time defined by concerns over privacy and protection. And why, although the programme declares “the time is the present”, is the only phone a brick-like old landline handset? In 2019, would there really be no cellphones or tablets lying around?

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