Minority Report at Birmingham Rep - Review

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Fri 22 Mar 2024 - Sat 06 Apr 2024

Is it possible to predict when someone is about to commit a murder and then prevent them from doing so? That is the question at the heart of Philip K Dick’s sci-fi classic Minority Report in which technology has reached such a point that everyone is computer chipped, their brains read and, should their mind suggest they will commit a serious crime they are neutralized.

Head of Precrime Julia Anderton is convinced the system works and is keeping everyone safe – until she is inexplicably named as a potential killer. And suddenly her convictions are put to the test.



Adapted by David Haig, this production hits the story head-on. We are introduced to Julia at the very beginning as she gives a presentation in which she explains and justifies Precrime. Here is someone at the top of their game, in control of millions, and yet within minutes, we see that slip away from her as she goes from hunter to hunted.

The next 90 minutes is a frantic chase as Julia attempts to evade her persecutors and, in doing so, discovers the ugly side of Precrime – elements she has chosen to ignore up to now.

The show is visually stunning. The design team including designer Jon Bausor, video designer Tal Rosner and lighting designer Jessica Hung Han Yun have pulled out all the stops to create a cyberspace world where we are pulled into the future at a hurtling pace. Add in music and sound by Nicola T Chang and movement by Lucy Hind and the production is a constantly shifting kaleidoscope which makes great use of the stage space.

Directed by Max Webster, the show is non-stop action as Julia physically runs from her potential captors and mentally runs with the discoveries she learns about a business she managed but never really understood.



Jodie McNee’s Julia is initially proud and preachy, here is a woman who thinks she knows it all, but we also learn her vulnerabilities – she cannot let go of the memory of her murdered twin sister and she isn’t sure who she can and cannot trust.

Nick Fletcher is somewhat hesitant as her husband George so we’re not quite sure how committed he has been to Precrime - or even his wife. Nicholas Rowe is the suitably smarmy and unreliable politician Ralph who is prepared to sacrifice years of friendship for what he believes to be the greater good.

Tanvi Virmani provides both humour and attitude as the artificial intelligence David, who manages to have a personality despite being robotic.

Haig’s adaptation is set in the future and includes a few humorous digs at our own confidence in current technology by assuring us that by 2050 Apple watches and Alexa will be old hat.
But there are also some very profound questions explored within the show. Can crime be predicted and, if so, is stepping in before it has been committed just to the accused? Is the potential criminalization of some innocent people worth it to ensure peace and safety for the rest of humanity? Is giving up all of our autonomy of thought a price worth paying for a world in which crime doesn’t happen?

Putting sci-fi on stage has its challenges as the theatre needs to create a world none of us have even imagined yet but this production of Minority Report shows us how it can be done while also giving us a prism to look at our own world and use of technology.

At Birmingham Rep until 6 April, see here for more information and tickets.

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