Review by James Wilkinson

‘The Earth Room’ – Written by Marge Buckley. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw. Scenic Design by Lindsay Fuori. Lighting Design by Abigail Wang. Costume Design by Chelsea Kerl. Prop Design by Victoria Hermann. Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill. Fight Choreography by Omar Robinson. Presented by Fresh Ink Theatre at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston through May 18, 2019

Somewhere along the way, we all seem to have made the collective decision that in the future, everything will be chrome and minimalist, (the average interior design on an episode of an HGTV show suggests that we’re well on our way to making this new reality). Part of me wants to assign responsibility to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey for implanting the aesthetic in our heads, but really, that film just extrapolates from earlier sci-fi depictions of the future. In any case, the design choice now exists as a kind of short hand for the audience, one that Fresh Ink Theatre’s new production, The Earth Room traffics in. It’s clear that we’re not in Kansas anymore (or anywhere else on Earth for that matter), when we step into the room with Lindsay Fuori’s set. In more ways than one, there’s a neatness to the room. There are tight, crisp edges to the (minimal) furniture. Geometric patterns line the walls, cocooning us in a grey shell. Conspicuously absent from the room are any sort of personal effects (as though the owner went the full-Kondo and decided that nothing they owned sparked joy). It’s a sci-fi world that we’re rocketing into, one with problems that both are and are not like those of us back on home.

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