by Mike Hoban
‘X’ – Written by Alistair McDowall; Directed by Lindsay Eagle; Scenic Design by Darren Cornell; Costume Design by Erica Desautels; Lighting Design by Connor S. Van Ness; Sound Design by Kyle Lampe; Special Effects Design by Lynn Wilcott. Presented by Flat Earth Theatre at the Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown through November 16
As someone who can feel disconnected simply by being on the other side of the country on a business trip, it’s unfathomable to imagine the level of disorientation and longing that the characters in X, Alistair McDowall’s ambitious and perplexing space drama now being given its New England premiere by Flat Earth, must feel. Stranded literally billions of miles from home on a scientific exploration mission to Pluto and cut off from contact with Mother Earth as they await their rescue, X takes the horror of the abandonment that preschoolers experience when Mommy and Daddy mix up their daycare pickup assignments and put it on a megadose of steroids.
Not that there’s much worth returning to. Earth has been decimated, and birds, trees and even South America are all gone from the face of the planet. Ray (David Anderson), the captain of the expedition who remembers the day when the birds just fell from the sky, keeps their memory alive (and attempts to keep himself sane) by practicing their calls on his collection of bird whistles. Trees are also a distant memory, and crew members speak of them in almost mythological terms.
When the play opens, it has been 18 months since the journey began, three weeks since contact with Earth, and Gilda (Cassandra Meyer), the lead scientist and Ray’s second in command, is beginning to get a bit panicky. Ray tries to reassure her, and in a definitive tone tells her, “They will come and get us. Maybe they’re late, maybe something’s wrong, but they’ll come… We’ve done 18 months. A few more won’t kill us.”
Or will it?
While this may sound like the setup to a standard “race against the clock” story set in space, it’s anything but. Yes, there’s the initial drama of being stranded, and there’s even the added dimension that there may be an otherworldly presence on the space station (much like Ridley Scott’s Alien), but X takes us in a completely different direction thematically. Time itself is a character in this piece, represented by an ever-present clock in the middle of the station that keeps its own version of time. Playwright McDowall removes any time markers from the story, so we never know if we’re in the (relative) present, past or future, and he gives us the added wrinkle of not separating reality from imagination in a number of scenes. One crew member may or may not be real, and the memories shared by one character may actually be those of another.
To be honest, there were times during the play where I thought to myself, “Where is this going?” followed soon by, “And when the hell is it going to get there?”, only to be introduced to another piece of information or a concept that may not have provided an explanation, but at least recaptured my attention enough to make me want to continue my relationship with the characters and story. It certainly also helps that, like Alien, we see fully developed characters engaging in workaday activities and banter, instead of big, heroic gestures like an old Flash Gordon serial, or heady stuff like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Instead, we get fully human scenes such as female scientist Mattie (Abigail Erdelatz) selling Gilda on the benefits of masturbation as an antidote to tension and tedium; and an initially goofy scene between fratboy/scientist Clark (Nick Perron) and geeky mathematician Cole (Slava Tchoul) as they discuss devising an algorithm to solve for X (which in this case, is time) after discovering that time is not following any recognizable pattern – it’s either slowing down or going backwards. This is a production that could have easily gone off the rails, but Lindsay Eagle’s taut direction and solid performances by the cast keep it on track.
As Ray, Anderson convincingly projects a world weariness as the grizzled veteran who either goes mad or is driven there by unseen forces. Perron and Tchoul give capable performances as the diametrically opposed scientists and Erdelatz brings a cocky energy to the role of Mattie. But it is the three-dimensional performance of Meyer as the hair-chewing Gilda that is the most affecting. Watching her move from the legitimate fear of the prospect of being stranded in space to a much deeper insecurity when she assumes the role of captain of the mission is genuinely moving, as is her transition to a loving mother (?) at play’s end. Meyer has been terrific in supporting roles (Flat Earth’s Silent Sky and her IRNE-nominated performance in The Winter’s Tale with Maiden Phoenix) but it’s a joy to see her exercise the full breadth of her abilities in a lead role. The set, sound and special effects design crew create a foreboding atmosphere in the stripped down but effective space station for the production, and costume designer Erica Desautels adds a clever touch to the crew’s attire, distressing the fabric of the uniforms to create a dry-rotted look that subtly reflects the shockingly long passage of time aboard ship.
X is a sometimes riveting, sometimes baffling work, and if you’re a purely linear thinker, this show may not be for you. But I found myself intrigued throughout (despite some slow stretches), and the performances by the cast make it worthwhile. Flat Earth continues to deliver bold choices in their productions (last season’s The Nether and Not Medea being prime examples), so I’ll keep showing up. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.flatearththeatre.com/
