REVIEW | Strange Orbits (Rehearsed Reading), Hope Theatre
Written by Bronagh
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Strange Orbits touches on many themes; misogyny, the climate crisis and obscenely rich white men trying to take over… that counts as a theme, right? All of this is packed into the space of an hour, but just didn’t quite blow me to space.
I will preface this by saying the show was a rehearsed reading, so there was no set or fancy lighting. We just had the cast, two microphones and their scripts in front of them. There were a few instances where words and phrases were stumbled over but were corrected quickly and with no fuss so was hardly detrimental. The Hope Theatre is a very small space, so this set up did feel refreshingly intimate.
Jonathan Aarons plays Jasper, a tech billionaire, and Carly Hendricks plays Lily, an engineer and Jasper’s wife. Carly, previously a SpaceX employee, wrote Strange Orbits in a playwriting debut. Carly’s previous experience is unsubtly reflected in the script, with Jasper’s character as an obvious nod to Elon Musk and the talk of misogyny in the workplace all too familiar. I did enjoy Jasper and Carly’s performances, with Carly especially giving a highly emotive performance. Gwendolyn Gray plays the small but powerful part of Robin, Lily’s sister, who only appears for a few minutes to send a message from Earth to Mars where Jasper and Lily have relocated to.
I did enjoy how Strange Orbits is largely a conversation between two people. Two people whose whole relationship is rocked so much so their views become totally misaligned. The urgency is intense and passionate, as the pair talk through climate change, war, and why Jasper did actually hire Lily. Jasper’s ego is sky high, whereas Lily is emotive and heartbroken. There were times when I felt my interest waning slightly, however, and I had to snap back into focusing. At times thing just didn’t seem to flow well and were forced.
The premise of Strange Orbits isn’t complicated; Jasper and Lily’s marriage is rocked by a confession from Jasper and they grapple to find common ground as well as dishing out some home truths. The language used is often beautiful and poetic in places, in its descriptions of Earth, nature and space. There are almost dreamlike instances where the brightness of the stars and moon are touched on, which adds a certain beauty to the script.
The script, almost in its entirety, has classical influences which wouldn’t be out of place on stage at The Globe. Some more risqué lines took a second for the audience to get, but when they did they were actually quite funny. I appreciate Carly has an interest in classical texts, and combining classic language with modern themes is certainly attention grabbing, but at times it just didn’t seem to fit. I totally agree that classical texts shouldn’t be forgotten and modernising them is a good idea, but I can’t help but think things would have flowed slightly better had the script used all modern language.
Overall Strange Orbits is a good show, with a talented cast. I did ‘get’ the message that was being conveyed, with important topics touched on and in a short space of time. Some people will absolutely love it, and I can see why, but a few niggles for me meant it didn’t quite rock my world.
