Second Coming, written by Kathryn Marquet, confronts the impact of our dissociation from the natural world. It’s a “what if” story that plays out Zane Brookbank’s (aka Elon Musk’s?) vision of settling on Mars. The story illustrates the types of things that can go wrong, and usually do when humans work together with differing motivations and visions.
The audience thought it hilarious, bursting into laughter as the stereotypes of race, gender, and colonisation were turned on their ear.
The setting is a spaceship, Ark Mark II, designed by Bill Haycock. It is midway between Earth and Mars and is packed with what the only geneticist Evie Mezzina (Ashlee Lollback), thinks are the zygotes of endangered Earth species. There’s a twist which you’ll have to see the play to appreciate. But think Elon Musk.
Ark Mark II has left a barely inhabitable Earth with no breathable air, where the humans live in bunkers. The natural world has been destroyed. All that is left are the zygotes in the test tubes in the lab on Ark Mark II, and the collection of plants kept alive on the Ark by the horticulturalist Noah (Gideon Mzembe).
The Ark’s pilot, Zara (Merlynn Tong), dominates the space, issuing orders to keep a fractured crew together. But her role is much more complicated. The Ark is a private sector enterprise, funded by GENESIS, “a corporate superpower who have commissioned the project”. It sells salvation through a slick marketing campaign in which the crew are active online participants. They peddle commemorative plates and images of happy, smiley, God-loving people.
Evie has brought her husband Alan Smith (Anthony Standish) on board as a tagalong. But not so. You’ll have to see the play to find out more.
Two characters- Evie’s mother, Brittany Mezzina (Helen Howard) and the evil Zane Brookbank (Darren Gilshenan) appear on the screen. The mother rings to confirm the poor conditions on Earth. Zane logs in regularly to keep his pet project aligned with GENESIS’s goals.
The crew members argue, placate, and finally, as in all good stories, come together to confront an unimaginable future. And behind all this is the overarching computer, AIDA (voiced by Dr Elise Grieg), which has the ultimate power to monitor, report, and instruct. It’s truly a dystopian play.
Ashlee conveyed the fragility of reproduction on many levels. Merlynn was both cajoaling and instructive. Gideon grounded the characters, providing the laugh-out-loud moment. Anthony stretched his character from a boy with no mission to a key to its success with ease. And the onscreen characters Darren and Helen provided the context.
I noted that empathy was missing throughout. The play was heavily influenced by USA culture.
So if you want to see photos of beautiful Earth before the end times, go along to La Boite in the next two weeks.
See: https://laboite.com.au/shows/second-coming for bookings.
Photo: Stephen Henry
Kerry McGovern
