By Jonathan Grant

March Twenty-Three: A man of tired, but generally respectable, appearance sits at his writing bureau. Judging by the accents and the furniture, he is somewhere in New York in the 1980s. But he could be anywhere, at any time. In front of him is his diary, his release from the world that has made him weary; these pages enable him to express his own opinions in the world that has made him powerless and mute in the face of globalisation’s irresistible force.

In the corner of the room is a small television. CBS News’ Dan Rather is espousing terror; the kind that is the heartbeat pumping money-green blood around consumer economies. Together with the radio on his desk, these media form the window out of which this man looks at the world. There is a curtain-covered pane of glass in the backdrop, but this is used only to spy on his neighbours’ unusual habits.

This is a man clearly at odds with the world, and his place in it. But as the days unravel and the diary entries, which provide the narrative to our story, accumulate, our hero’s writing becomes more resigned and his behaviour more fanatical as Notes from Underground takes unsuspecting twists as it plots the decay of our anti-hero, made rotten by the world to which he is subjected.

Internationally acclaimed Eric Bogosian’s existentialist tale charts the little highs and deep lows of our depressed lead. Its tone is intelligently pitched at a recognition, but not a reverence, of death and mortality.

Interspersed in this deeper plot are witty foibles that, for example, highlight how society can escalate the status and respectability of one class or person above another based on nothing more than a shirt and tie. Bogosian ridicules this and, through his artistry and the intelligence of Will Adamsdale’s performance, the audience too have a knowing chuckle.

Similarly, the modern-day, well-versed criticisms of the mass media and free-flowing chatter about masturbation give a contemporary feel to that age-old topic of conversation of life and death. This light-heartedness works well to fragment the often fraught tone of the play as Schopenhauer-inspired thoughts of “we all eat, shit, and die” and that “all we do on this earth is spend time helping to destroy it”, provide a more directly philosophical angle.

If a criticism could be made, it would be that the terms of reference, inherent within the philosophy that underpins the script are, at times, too obvious. One example would be the way that our anti-hero espouses the virtuous innocence of babies. Though this is a well-worn view, and one could argue commonly accepted, it smacked too much of Blake’s work two centuries prior in its pointed delivery and execution.

Yet, this is a minor point and, in many ways, was more a mention in Bogosian’s bibliography than an attempt to plagiarise. Much more frustrating was the one scene in which our anti-hero describes his pursuit of a woman around an art gallery, which left me asking how such a clichéd account had been deemed worthy of entering our otherwise enlightening and innovative script.

Yet, as our anti-hero proves throughout the play, it is words in action and not words on paper that are most important. And, where Bogosian lays down the gauntlet, Adamsdale picks it up like a thoroughly adept gauntlet-picker-upper. His ability to portray, with a genuine humility, the normality and morality of our lead, even in situations that society may otherwise judge abnormal or immoral, and instead turn the question around to ask society what is ridiculous, wrong, or improper, is extraordinary. Moreover, whilst still being able to draw a laugh and, at the same time, deploy an ironic hammer to smash up our taken-for-granted social conformities, shows a deep understanding of character and command of emotional expression that is seldom seen on stage or screen.

Well directed and produced, with a soundtrack that resonates to the background hum of life, Notes from Underground is as sturdy as the writing bureau in our hero’s apartment and as compelling as your best friend’s diary. Check out this voyeuristic master class….

Notes from Underground is being performed at Trafalgar Studios until November 4th. Other views: the Guardian’s; the Evening Standard’s.