Theatre / Reviews
Review: In the Dark, At-Bristol
For around five years, In The Dark’s loose collaboration of radio producers and enthusiasts have been taking choice titbits of radio away from the traditional, distracting settings of car and kitchen and into environments that invite the audience to drop everything and just listen.
The title of the project has rarely been more relevant than tonight, when the team take us into the pin-pricked blackness of At-Bristol’s Planetarium, on the very day that scientists achieved the bewildering feat of landing a probe on a comet.
Free from distractions bar the domed, star-dashed ceiling, we’re treated to a brilliantly curated selection of space-related curios from across broadcasting history. We have clips of talks and interviews with astronauts, physicists and space enthusiasts; bombastic philosophising from populist astronomer Carl Sagan; and the odd comedy interlude, including a lovely skit in which two space beings discuss their revulsion at finding a planet where the only conscious beings are made of meat (think about it).
A theme emerges of contrast between the intimately human and the cold grandeur of space. Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan describes with surprising romanticism her unexpected proposal to her former work colleague. An astronaut relates his profound sense of loneliness when briefly separated from his crewmates on a spacewalk, and his everyday joy at being greeted back on Earth by a buddy with pizza and beer.
A particular highlight is another astronaut realising on-air why people don’t seem to drool when sleeping on a space shuttle: the “pooling” of drool, she figures, with touching surprise, “is a function of gravity”.
The only bum note is sounded by a crass mash-up of Star Trek dialogue, which thrusts the simmering homoerotic tension between Spock and Kirk into the limelight. Even Sagan’s well-turned grandiloquence sounds a touch out of place in such an intimate and reflective environment.
Instead, it’s the understated, humble thoughts of the less famous contributors that resonate best. To a man and woman, they’re defiantly down-to-Earth in the way they describe their rare and uniquely revealing experiences. It’s a joy to get the chance to really listen to them.
In the Dark was at At-Bristol’s Planetarium on Wednesday, 12 November. For news of further ItD events, check the website.
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