The Infant

The Infant is a Kafka-esque dark comedy from Ernest and the Pale Moon creators Les Enfants Terribles, set in the interrogation rooms of a shadowy government organisation. Cooper—hands tied, hooded, gagged and bloodied—is accused of a crime he not only didn't commit, but didn't even know existed. He soon finds that his entire family is under attack by an organisation that ostensibly exists to protect him.

The Infant is very much a child of the War on Terror, satirizing some of the more insane precautions taken by state intelligence services with the aim of protecting society from "the terrorists". Anthony Spargo and Martyn Dempsey's madcap interrogators are almost vintage Tim Burton-like figures, managing to be likeably kooky one minute and darkly sinister the other. Their relationship and squabbles are the undisputed highlight of this absurdist drama.

Where The Infant disappoints is in the incredibility of its premise. While a farce is expected to have at its heart a central strand that is perfectly stupid and there to be ridiculed, this production chooses something monumentally unbelievable to the point that one's disbelief can no longer be suspended. For all the interesting things that The Infant has to say about authoritarianism and the fragility of human rights, asking us to buy into the idea that security services would make a serious fuss over a child's innocuous drawing is pushing it too far.

Consequently, it's really difficult to fully immerse yourself in a production that you just can't believe in, and this really lets The Infant down.