by James Wilkinson
‘Last Catastrophist’– Written by David Valdes. Directed by Sarah Gazdowicz. Scenic Design Andrew Kolifrath. Lighting Design: Read Davidson. Costume Design: Erica Desautels. Sound Design: Vinny Laino. Prop Design: Lauren Corcuera. Fight Choreographer: Marge Dunn. Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre at the Plaza Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts January 24-February 8, 2020.
Fresh Ink Theatre’s Last Catastrophist is a play with two eyes going in two different directions. On one side, it’s a sort of odd couple buddy comedy. Two protagonists, ones with polar opposite personalities, are forced together on a journey which is designed to bring them closer together as they slowly learn to trust each other. On the other side of the equation, Last Catastrophist is a paranoia-soaked conspiracy eco-thriller, one that takes place in a future perhaps only a few years away from where we are now. A grim fate awaits humankind somewhere down the road and the audience is left to decide if it’s one they want to try and steer away from. I think that the play is ridiculous, but before you tune out, I need to stress that I don’t mean that as a negative. Conspiracy stories by their very nature are ridiculous because the characters in them are extrapolating their circumstances in all kinds of improbable ways. Everything seems crazy to us until the characters’ worst fears are proven to be true. The world is out to get them after all. I bring this up because yes, Last Catastrophist is ridiculous, but it uses its ridiculousness in a knowing way. It leans into it to find its own unique sensibility and unpack the comic possibilities. That’s what’s kind of exciting about it. For the bulk of its run time (more on that in a bit), the theatrical stars of direction, performance, design and writing are aligning in a wonderful kind of way and the production hits on something fresh.
How to break down the script by David Valdes? Well, it takes place in the not too distant future, (stories about the impending apocalypse always do), where scientist Marina (Evelyn Holley) is holed up on a remote island somewhere around Iceland. We’re so close to the edge of the world that there’s barely a cell signal to be found. It’s a level of isolation many might consider hellish, but that’s just the way she wants it. The quiet is broken when Lucia (Shanelle Chloe Villegas) appears on her little plot of land, causing Marina’s back to go up. No one is supposed to know where she is, so what’s this new person doing here? Turns out that Lucia is a scientist as well, one who’s been trying to track Marina down. Both women are catastrophists, climate scientists whose work supports the existence of global warming and they’re hiding from a terrorist group called Eternal Sunshine, (which I’m guessing takes its name from the Alexander Pope poem that also provided the movie title). Eternal Sunshine wants to squash any legitimacy given to the threat of global warming, and has a history of eliminating scientists in their line of work by any means necessary. Lucia seeking Marina out was prompted by the recent death of another catastrophist. They’re now the last two in the world. She wants to band together to protect their work and as they trek across Iceland, trying to dodge Eternal Sunshine, Marina must decide just how much she can trust Lucia.
The above paragraph took me over an hour to write. That’s kind of maddening (for me at least) because the play’s basic plot is actually very simple. You’re watching two characters walk from point A to point B, getting to know them along the way. What makes the play difficult to summarize is that so much of the experience of the play has to do with the world that Valdes builds around the plot and how he teases the information about that world out of his characters. It actually takes a while for the audience to piece together even the basic plot points that I’ve listed above, (There’s more to it, but hell, I’ve got to leave something for you to discover for yourself.). This slow dribble of information is part of what keeps you engaged because you’re always playing detective. What exactly has the world come to in this future setting?
As I said though, it really doesn’t take long for these tales of climate change shadow organizations and scientist conspiracy theories to veer towards the ludicrous (although, let’s see how the next few political years in this country turn out. I may come to eat those words), part of what I think prevents the show from collapsing under the weight of all of the exposition is how the company is using Valdes’ dialogue. Evelyn Holley and Shanelle Chloe Villegas are giving comic performances that seem to be perfectly calibrated to each other. They’re playing at different pitches that blend together into one beautiful note. Holley brings just a dash of archness, a slight performative quality, to how she’s delivering her lines. It creates a stiffness in the character that makes sense as she’s the more guarded of the two. On appearance, Villegas gives a performance that’s a bit more “natural” but she’s still able to spike it with bits where, like a naughty child trying to get away with something, she’ll lean into a moment to see how far she can go and snag the laugh. The contrast of these two characters and the subtle differences in playing style are what provide so much of the humor in the play’s first half. It’s wonderful to watch.
Fresh Ink’s production is directed by Sarah Gazdowicz, who I think in this production and other recent ones that I’ve seen, shows a real talent for expanding the world of the play beyond the performance space. The set design by Andrew Kolifrath doesn’t give much in the way of furniture. The landscape of Iceland is recreated with a simply painted floor and images of blue icebergs surrounding us on the walls. A great deal of the script involves the characters walking, and Gadzdowicz manages to find a theatrical way of staging this that makes the space feel vast. She’s aided in no small part by the lighting design by Read Davidson which has some lovely moments recreating the natural features of Iceland.
Will the play inspire any action on climate change? I think it wants to, but I also think it’s doubtful that it’s going to change the minds of the unbelievers. The play gets a bit too bogged down with its imaginary plotlines for it to have that kind of impact. It’s difficult for the audience to feel roused to action when the main antagonist, (Eternal Sunshine), is (at least, at this moment in time), imaginary. Though I will say that for those who already believe in climate change, the play will invoke an all-too-familiar sense of dread, (“Oh right,” I thought to myself mid-show, “We’re all totally screwed.”). Yet it’s disappointing when in the play’s final third, it doubles down on its thriller elements. I realize that these elements were probably what inspired the play but there’s a noticeable shift in the audience when this happens. The humor of the piece evaporates and I think we notice its absence. As intrigue piles on intrigue, we’re too busy trying to keep all of the facts straight to stay engaged as we once were. Last Catastrophist freezes in its tracks just as we want it to keep trekking forward. For tickets and more information, visit their website: www.freshinktheatre.org
