Incognito

by Nick Payne

The brain builds a narrative to steady us from moment to moment, but it is absolutely an illusion. There is no me, there is no you, and there is certainly no self. Princeton, New Jersey. 1955. Thomas Stoltz Harvey performs the autopsy on Albert Einstein - and then steals his brain. Bath, England. 1953. Henry undergoes pioneering brain surgery. The surgery changes Henry's life, and the history of neuroscience. London, England. The Present. Martha is a clinical neuropsychologist. When her marriage breaks down she starts to make radically different choices. Three interwoven stories exploring the nature of identity and how we are defined by what we remember, Incognito is an exhilarating exploration of what it means to be human.

Nick Payne's Incognito premiered at Live Theatre, Newcastle, in April 2014 in a co-production with Nabokov and HighTide Festival Theatre.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Theatre, Drama, 21st Century

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2014

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update, 9/24: I wanted to reread this as a friend is mounting a production in Chicago soon, and I recalled I liked it, but not any of the specifics (mind like a sieve!). It really is a brilliant, though challenging piece of theatre - really wish I could see it performed some time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/th...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...
https://www.ft.com/content/d8814a7a-d...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...
https://theweek.com/theatre/58608/inc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-wUY...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdQQG...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfpD1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox9TL...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfpD1...


Original review, 1/18:
This is the third of Payne's plays I've now read, and by far my favorite. Weaving together three separate stories (that eventually intersect), it is initially a bit difficult to keep straight what is going on, but it eventually all makes sense, and is beautifully constructed and modulated. Would love to see it on stage sometime, and see how well it performs.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intellectually stimulating. Emotionally satisfying.
I love smart things that also break my heart.

[Greg McConeghy · Rating 5 out of 5]

We will be seeing this play next month at Second Thought Theatre in Dallas.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to see this play performed live at the Manhattan Theater Club. Watching a four-person cast handle over 20 separate roles with rapid-fire scene and character changes was an absolute treat, and once the powerhouse of a play was over I knew I wanted to find a copy of the script and reread it to see how everything fit together. The play goes by so quickly that it’s a bit tricky to follow all the separate storylines and interconnect them with only one viewing. Incognito is a fantastic play about memory, identity and the not-quite-theft of Albert Einstein’s brain; one that juggles heartbreak and humor as the actors transition in and out of roles. It’s a great read. It’s even better live. If you should ever get the chance to see this one, you must check it out.

[Matthijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart play whose labyrinthine form fits perfectly with its themes of brains, memory and identity. The pacing is fast and although the numerous characters each have little stage time, I was genuinely curious on where these troubled people would end up.

As I read this one instead of watching it staged, I sometimes lost track of who’s who. As a play that likes to pose more questions than it answers, that might have been deliberate. However, I’d have loved it if it gave more characters a sounding conclusion.

Together with the stellar ‘Constellations’, this makes Nick Payne one of my favourite contemporary playwrights.

[Derek Dewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one much more than Constellations. Again, though, the ending is a little bit of a "humph". And again I feel like the opportunity to really explore some interesting stuff about the brain and memory was missed. It has some, but I wanted more. Still, the way the stories weave into and through one another is fascinating. I bet this would be great to see on the stage.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved individual scenes in this. And, now that I understand that much of it is based on real characters, it makes a little more sense. But, overall this was very confusing to read, and I finished it with little sense of what I was supposed to take away from it.

[Daniel Preciado · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Payne’s language and how he captures each character’s character (ha) just through the melody of their speech. Very cool stuff!

[paigeloupip · Rating 5 out of 5]

PATRICIAAAAAA

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating.

[Chambers Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nick Payne is a wonderful writer.
I've read 5 of his plays.
This one is about the man who stole Einstein's brain.
It is interesting. And very theatrical.
I just don't like it as much as I do some of his other plays....especially If there is I haven't found it yet.