Cherwell’s Verdict:
“Gripping, gritty psychological fantasy”
Tension abounds among the claustrophobic spaces of this psychological take on science fiction, written by Oxford student Eli Keren. The plot revolves around a mission to recover a mysterious object, the ‘Aleph’, about which the five members of the cast know nothing, and which they cannot discuss. Yet with the object successfully found, the play goes on to explore the rapidly increasing difficulties faced by a small ground under huge pressure, guarding a seductively dangerous object for which the one rule to obey is that “they
can’t open the case”.
There is something Lord-of-the-Rings-esque about the whole psychological/fantasy set-up; I am reminded particularly strongly of Merry’s
tantalising obsession with Sauramon’s seeing stone in the final instalment of the trilogy. Yet to compare Alex Wood (who plays Junks, the character most susceptible to the temptations of the forbidden Aleph) to a hobbit is to pass
over his truly convincing and at times shocking portrayal of his character’s mental disintegration.
All of the actors, but particularly Junks and Captain Evans (Will Law), excel in this gripping, gritty production, in a way which makes them highly believable even within the slightly heavy-handed dependence on the language of military fantasies (there is much talk of ‘secret missions’, ‘returning to base’ and ‘reporting to the commander’). Identical uniforms and a relatively stark backdrop of two chairs, some sandbags, and a few cans of baked beans,
means that all of the energy has to come from the characters themselves – and yet they undoubtedly carry it off in style.
Conversations fly, with each angry and F-word-spattered speech bounding off the last with a veneer of flawless confidence even five days before the opening night. But anger and instability isn’t all this cast is capable of: another particularly moving scene is between the young and vulnerable Madison (Lizhi Howard) and Captain Evans, whose tragic sacrifice just manages to skirt around the edge of sentimentality and remain within the realms of the genuinely moving.
The first half of this 70 minute play is, I am told, less dark than the extract I saw from later on, such that there may possibly be less emphasis on the psychological aspect at which these actors are so proficient.
But whilst I was unconvinced initially by the idea of science fiction, of which I cannot pretend usually to be a huge admirer, this play certainly won me over, and persuaded me of the genre’s huge potential for timeless relevance.
