The Hard Problem

It's a little bit tough to say what the titular problem in "The Hard Problem" at ACT actually is.

Partly it's about neuroscience: We know if someone or something is acting like it has a conscious mind, but how can we be sure it really does?

But there's also business here about probability and causality, about rational and irrational thinking, about business markets, game theory, etc. And of course there's a story too, with a Dickens-like fondness for coincidence.

If you're wondering what all of these themes have to do with each other... well, it's probably better not to invest too much in waiting for a big answer.

In this Carey Perloff-directed production, Hilary (Brenda Meaney, previously in "Indian Ink," another Perloff-directed Tom Stoppard Play at ACT) is an idealistic, glass-is-half-full neuro researcher.

That's a bit of a contradiction, since that sort of research mostly involves crafting a world of elaborate lies. Test subjects usually think that you're researching something different than you actually are, and most experiments hinge on tricking them into confusing what is and is not the important part of the study.

Despite a job that requires constant manipulation of unsuspecting people, Hilary is optimistic, high-minded and altruistic. And she wants to prove through her research that altruism is baked into human nature.

Her on again, off again guy on the side Spike (Dan Clegg from ACT's brilliant "Chester Bailey") calls her na�ve. Her hard charging billionaire boss Jerry (Mike Ryan, who looks like an alloy of Gerald Ford and Daddy Warbucks) is mostly interested in whatever findings can help him game the financial markets. And her slightly na�ve assistant Bo (Narea Kang) appears to be a true believer, but may have ulterior motives.

But Hilary soldiers on, partly because she's (perhaps inordinately) preoccupied with the memory of the daughter she gave up for adoption decades ago. The better case she can make for hard optimism, the more faith she can afford that her absent daughter is leading a happy life somewhere.

If it seems a little hard to follow what "The Hard Problem" is about, that's okay. The play is a big ball of characters and themes that mostly just rolls this way and that, much like real life.

This is Tom Stoppard's newest play, premiering just last year. It's tempting to compare this one to "Arcadia," this time by examining the human mind instead of the universe.

But while the scientific mishmash took a backseat in that play, in "The Hard Problem" it's not only in the front seat, it's also driving. Possibly while texting.

This is a play in which lines like, "I don't think you can write an equation for a chaotic, non-linear system" are both defining character moments and pointed tension building exercises.

There's actually nothing wrong with that. It's fun, for example, to watch Hilary outclass the boorish, mansplaining theories some of the other characters try to club her with, and Meaney show great aplomb.

But there's not much to get invested in beyond the cerebral. "The Hard Problem" never stops to give you much to care about. Instead it whizzes by years of time and loads of potentially engaging material.

For example, one early scene pairs Meaney with her "Indian Ink" costar Vandit Bhatt (here playing a slightly priggish but oddly endearing mathematician) in an intriguing way. But after that they barely ever share the stage again.

The problem of Hilary's uncertainty about the fate of her lost daughter -- and, therefore, the decisions she made about -- is always just a background element. It has to be, since it's a story about an absence.

And without that, "The Hard Problem" is mostly just a series of interactions that are occasionally interesting, but never exactly riveting.

We should note that, once again, the Geary Street theater hosts a truly awesome set, this one by Andrew Boyce. It's an intensely bright, hazy construct that looks a bit like heaven's waiting room. And where, we have to assume, they have very, very good magazines.

"The Hard Problem" runs through November 13 at A.C.T., 415 Geary Street in San Francisco. For information or tickets, call 415-749-2228 or visit ACT-SF.org.