This Little Earth at Arcola Theatre Review
Ross O'Donnellan and Fanta Barrie in This Little Earth. Photo by Johan Persson
Written by Sarah for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Trigger warnings: Cancer, grief, conspiracy theories.
“King Charles the Third is a penguin.”
Honey is on a pilgrimage to Antarctica, searching for meaning following the death of her sister. Christopher is lost after the breakdown in his relationship. Christopher is also concerned with the disinformation peddled by the political elite, indeed, Christopher is a fully fledged conspiracy theorist and ‘flat earther’. Paranoid? That depends on your perspective, which is the central theme of the play: the nature of truth and the search for it. Together, the two lost wanderers embark on a journey to the edge of the earth. The romance seems incidental, or perhaps circumstantial.
Fanta Barrie as Honey is passionate and energetic. Ross O’Donnellan as Christopher is suitably bland, until his deeper beliefs are revealed. One moment, he warms Honey’s hands, the next, he gulps down their last few precious drops of water. Both actors are very committed, and both characters are clearly driven, but there is a lot of exhaling from the off, which is somewhat perplexing. The stakes seem incredibly high from the beginning, leaving little room for development. The text needed more variation in pace, more light and shade, because much of the characters' internal journeys felt rushed.
Setting the play in Antarctica brings unique challenges, and the execution was inconsistent and jarring. The costumes suggested being slightly underdressed for a British bonfire night rather than suitable for the Antarctic. This didn’t help the transient feeling of Honey and Christopher being lost teenagers hanging around in a park on a chilly night, rather than the “coldest, windiest, highest, and driest continent on Earth”. Lines like ‘I’m freezing’ and ‘you're cold’ seem like an understatement in minus 20 degrees.
Writer Jessie Norman’s dialogue is snappy, but it lacks subtlety. The surprising twist involves the unexpected appearance of a prominent conspiracy theorist. He debunks the PR surrounding him and the illusions that Honey has brought into it. In a clever ‘meta’ move by Norman and punch through the fourth wall, Honey realises she is in a theatre, in a play, and is told that the audience, like the political elite and Royal family, are all penguins. A hilarious, clever and immediate comment on conspiracy theories. Whose reality is this anyway? Honey is pulled to rediscover her inner voice and trust her instincts.
The design is simple, an abstract suggestion of the Antarctic: a silver, mirrored, angular stage block and some strips of blue sheer fabric hanging from the ceiling. Projections are used minimally and could have been utilised to create a stronger sense of place and time. Perhaps this was a conscious decision because there was a sense of ‘Brechtian alienation’, a sense that we were watching actors in a studio, which later becomes more understandable as the play develops. However, sound and lighting could have been used much more effectively in creating the sense of place and enhancing the storytelling and underlying themes.
This Little Earth runs at The Arcola Theatre, Dalston until Sat 15th November.
★★★
