Review: When Tang Met Laikaby Jeff Foust
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| “What kind of emotional toll does space exploration take on someone who has decided to devote his or her life to it?” the play’s author asks. “How does one return to ‘ordinary’ life after experiencing extraordinary things?” |
These events all take place on a backdrop of the changing geopolitical environment of the post-Cold War era as the two countries draw closer, but also see relations cool. The play attempts to illustrate these changes in part through a series of vignettes by two characters identified in the cast as “Young Communist (Retired)” and “Young Capitalist (Retired)”, who mourn the loss of the conflict between them that had defined their lives, then conspire to recreate that conflict. These characters may have confused people more than enlightened them, though, based on some of the audience comments after the performance I attended last week: they couldn’t understand who they were supposed to be or represent.
When Tang Met Laika is performed in theater-in-the-round (appropriately, if coincidentally, in the Space Theatre at the Denver Center) with relatively simple sets and props. There’s good attention to detail in the play: while the events may be fictional there’s a largely successful attempt to get the underlying facts correct (former astronaut Bruce McCandless served as a technical advisor.) However, the focus of the play is on the characters and their interactions—as they should be.
In an article in the program for the play, its author, Rogelio Martinez, describes what he believes is at its core. “What kind of emotional toll does space exploration take on someone who has decided to devote his or her life to it?” he asks. “How does one return to ‘ordinary’ life after experiencing extraordinary things?” When Tang Met Laika, he admits, does not answer those questions, but instead illustrates them in an innovative fashion. It’s a play that hopefully will get a chance to fly again after its current mission in Denver ends.
