Play ponders existence of extra-terrestrials
One-man show at Theatre Network queries whether aliens check up on us
Even as our intellectual achievements soar ever higher — what they can’t do with a laser beam these days isn’t worth mentioning — we remain, at our core, simple creatures. We want love, a warm bed, a good lint brush and ... answers. Always with the answers.
In We Are Not Alone, Damien Atkins’ thoroughly entertaining oneman show presented by Theatre Network, the St. Albert-raised actor and playwright ponders what was once imponderable — the notion that there are other creatures in the universe, and that every so often, they pop by Earth for a look-see.
Atkins was commissioned to write a play about the once-compelling topic of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He spent a couple of years on the project, doing a deep dive into the literature, interviewing folks who had experiences with UFOs and authorities in the field, all of which culminated in Atkins’ attendance at the International UFO Congress in Phoenix.
It’s not exactly clear why Atkins tackles this quest in the first place (although a commission is obviously reason enough). The piece, though it describes a personal
journey, is not autobiographical — one doesn’t get the impression Atkins himself has a mad desire to nail down the veracity of little green men. He says merely that he was “drawn to the subject.”
What Atkins doesn’t like is the attitude that greets him when he mentions to others that he is contemplating a play about UFOs. People giggle uncomfortably, are skeptical, even dismissive. It isn’t just awkward, it’s annoying. Something in Atkins wants to wipe the smug, condescending smiles off the faces of those doubters.
And so begins his search for answers.
Let me say that Atkins could stand on stage and recite Bill 69, even the parts about the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, and he’d have my attention. He is a pitch-perfect performer.
The first demonstration of his skill comes in the opening moments of the show when he plays Kenneth Arnold, the American pilot credited in 1947 with the first, widely-reported sighting of a UFO. Standing in front of an old-timey announcer’s microphone, Atkins captures Arnold’s sincerity and practicality. He doesn’t overstate his case; he’s a professional pilot,
and he observed something like a chain of pie plates cut in half, soaring across the face of Mt. Rainier at 1,200 miles an hour. Who would not believe this man?
With Arnold, and the numerous other characters he plays, Atkins moulds his body like it was Plasticine in a stop-motion animation movie. His lips extend, his tongue is a lizard, his elbows jut like chicken wings. Perhaps my favourite moment of the play is when Atkins does an impression of the sounds that men at the UFO Congress make when they are at the urinal in a public washroom.
It’s not junior-high gross, but rather a study of the vast range of human beings. We like to think that others are like us, or if they are not, that they should be. But, in fact, we don’t need to look past the planet’s atmosphere to see the bizarre, unexpected or merely different. They live among us.
The 90-minute, intermission-free play, directed by Chris Abraham and Christian Barry, is a tremendous vehicle for Atkins’ talent. While the actual premise for the play lacks narrative urgency (does anyone really care about UFOs, real or imagined, anymore?), Atkins cleverly engages the audience regardless.
He enters the stage area at the Roxy on Gateway through the same door as everyone else, with the lights up, and makes eye contact
with audience members, expressing his gratitude for our attendance. He uses the second person “you” throughout the first one-third of the show, foisting the UFO exploration on the audience. He requests a show of hands to see how many audience members believe in UFOs.
The play gains traction when Atkins decides he wants to pursue an otherworldly “experience,” and travels from the UFO Congress in Phoenix to Sedona — where the vortex roam — to do so. Here, we finally sense the playwright has skin in the game. Maybe he, too, really
does want to know, or at least, to surrender. The ending of the play is more meditation than solution. Which might be exactly perfect.
We Are Not Alone, produced by A Crow’s Theatre and Segal Centre for Performing Arts in partnership with 2b Theatre Company, runs at Theatre Network’s Roxy on Gateway (8529 Gateway Blvd.) until March 3. For ticket information, call the Theatre Network box office at 780-453-2440 or visit theatrenetwork.ca.