Last Dream (On Earth)
In 1961 Yuri gazes up at the ocean of stars above the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan; in some contemporary moment, a young refugee, Sam, stands on the shore of Morocco and gazes out across the Strait of Gibraltar, the voyage ahead of her as uncertain and as unsafe as that taken half a century before but without the technological might of a nation or the eyes of the world upon her. For both, their last dream on Earth is survival, and an uncertain one at that.
Presented in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and the Tron Theatre, headphones are donned as the audience enter the auditorium, the musicians and performers (Tyler Collins on guitar and Gameli Tordzro on percussion, Michelle Cornelius, Kimisha Lewis and Edward Nkom) already on stage, their whispered vocals broadcast alongside looped and layered psychedelic guitars.
Though the headphones may seem a gimmick, they guarantee a clarity of sound balanced perfectly for every attendee regardless of where they are sat, all peripheral distractions eliminated while every word is captured no matter how softly spoken, the attention never wavering from the experience, plus the added bonus of being sat in a darkened room with a hundred others apparently awaiting Cyberconversion, a sea of gently nodding red lights.
The sound of rasping breathing becomes an oxygen feed to a spacesuit as system checks are carried out prior to launch, the audio quality between the different channels echoed in Sam’s erratic and infrequent calls back home to update her family on her halting progress, hiding her fear, never discussing the obstacles ahead of her or the yellow child’s dinghy on which she will cross the busiest shipping lane in the world.
The rumble of the launch gantry pulling away transmitted underfoot, though that is but a prelude to the blast off itself, and as Gagarin floats in free fall, so Sam floats in the ocean, yet the parallels feel heavy handed and more about the issues is presents than the characters; possibly it was the intention of director Kai Fischer that by keeping Sam abstract she represents every child, woman and man taking that dangerous step into the unknown.
Experimental and impressionistic with all praise deserved by sound designer Matt Padden, sound technician Ritchie Young and the onstage cast the performers who voice their roles with conviction, the show lies at a distance just beyond arm’s reach, never quite engaging as it should despite the flawless presentation and undoubted effort of all involved.
Last Dream (On Earth) continues at the Assembly Halls until August 28th
