A Dramaturg Questions: Mercury Fur (Riot Productions)

The Script
Mercury Fur runs at over two hours - longer than Forced Entertainment's Bloody Mess (which was good enough to convince a generation that their post-dramatic theatre was definitive, even when the company was churning out generic misery devised rambles) or Les Ballet C de la B's VSPRS (and that changed my understanding of dance's potential to express complex ideas). Does it deserve this length, or can it be edited?

There are two strands (at least) to the script: the story of the 'butterflies' and the social chaos that leads the government to bomb London. While these strands do weave together - it is suggested that butterfly use leads to a culture of drugged-up thugs looking for the main chance - they are distinct and not necessarily integrated. How can the production link these ideas?

There are a great many monologues. There is a character called 'party piece,' but each actor gets one in the form of relating a story from memory. If all of these monologues are kept intact, how can the play maintain pace and the through line of the narrative?

Elliot and Lola are lovers, yet they fight throughout. Does the script allow any space to reveal their intimacy?

The Space
The Assembly Roxy is a long 'stage.' How can you avoid spending time on slow exits, especially in the finale, which limps towards an ending (even though their are corpses and bombs going off)?

The acoustic is not great, either. What steps can be taken to ensure the speeches are always audible - again, especially in the dialogues)?

Scenography
Is it a good idea to use a mobile phone off-stage to make the sound effects for a mobile phone on-stage?

There is much made of the lighting in the flat being natural, from daylight (a curtain is pulled down to let light in). How can this be emphasised in the lighting score without asking for suspension of disbelief (which is the audience's to give, not the company to expect)?

What would the hair of lumpen proletariat gangsters look like in a 'post-apocalyptic' world? Would it be a

neat cut, or a bit grubby? Since there is chat about the need for one character to have a bath, and worries about the lack of hot water in the flat, is it possible to go too far in uglying up the cast?

Cast
All of the cast are young, but it is clear that The Duchess is the mother of Elliot and Darren. How can this be made clear?

Again, the age of the actors is a concern: do they have the stamina to maintain two hours of tough acting that switches between power dynamics? Given the content, do they have the emotional strength?

Ethics
There is some heavy duty stuff in Mercury Fur. Does it need a trigger warning on the publicity?

While it is great to see a multinational finance company supporting the arts, the description of their business (especially the line about 'what if there were 58,627 other just like them... they shared the same name') sounded a bit like something from Ridley's imagination. Are they a good fit for a play so steeped in anti-capitalist values?