An Ark ★★★ - The Recs

An Ark, the new “mixed reality” production being presented by Tin Drum and The Shed, is, in reality, a mixed bag. The show sets expectations high with its attendance requirements — coats must be checked, shoes must be removed, patrons who wear glasses have to remove their eyewear so that the lens specialists on hand can best duplicate their vision for the headsets — then fails to reach them once it actually begins.

Producer Todd Eckert, writer Simon Stephens (best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), and director Sarah Frankcom are all interested in expanding the theatrical form, and the possibilities do get the mind racing. There is no stage. Audience members sit in concentric circles, and as the show starts headsets go on rather than lights going off.

The immediate intimacy is cool at first, if not a bit disconcerting. Four chairs appear, and one by one the actors — Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene, and Rose Sheevy — enter, take a seat opposite, and make — then hold — direct eye contact. Then they start talking, and… the anticipated excitement turns quickly to a muted blah.

In an effort to make something profound and universal, the creators have abandoned specificity for generalizations and second-person narratives: you did this, you did that, etc. It’s all done very gently, and very dully. If the departed are going to talk to us, they don’t have to be as wickedly alacritous as Elvira in Blithe Spirit, but they at least must be interesting. In an effort to create some drama, one actor exits for vague reasons, then returns minutes later for reasons equally vague; the dramatic tension is nil.

The creators make it clear you and the four performers are all in a state between life and death, but as you continue to wait for something to happen, it feels less like ethereal escapism and more like an underbaked idea driven by techie excitement. Though an admirable and earnest attempt at theatrical innovation, An Ark as an experience very much feels like it’s in its beta phase.