Andrew is a Tralfamadorian. Well, actually, he's a human who has embraced the Tralfamadorian concept of time: ”whatever is always has been and always will be.”Andrew is a philosophy student, works in a library and has fallen under the spell of Kurt Vonnegut, especially his novel, Slaughterhouse 5.
Like Billy Pilgrim, the hero of Slaughterhouse 5, Andrew has either fallen into, or is in thrall of the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, the mathematical point where all opinions, no matter how contradictory, are harmonised.
Somewhere in time and at the exact moment that he always has and always will, he meets the pregnant and pragmatic Kristiina, Estonian oestrogenian, who stimulates his sentimental synapses, from here to paternity. So it goes.
Sam O'Sullivan's play, The Block Universe, is not only inspired by Vonnegut but is infused with Kurt's detached observer/involved participant paradigm and the same naïve vision and playfulness of the author.
There is no beginning, no middle, no end – although the beginning is the end, as it goes – no suspense to speak of, no moral, nor causes, no effects, just many marvellous moments imagined to be seen all at one time.
Neither the rationalist, Kristiina, nor the romanticist, Andrew, is very good at life, but for a time, there is no Why me? Why you? Why us? Why anything? Because their moment simply is. Yet, the Why Chromosome inexorably leads to the Ex factor. So it goes.
The play has almost no dramatic confrontations, the conflict arises from the clash between intellect and intuition, feeling and thinking, and love lies bleeding. So it goes.
Jacob Warner plays Andrew and he's as fine a Vonnegut inspired character as ever put on stage – enthusiastic, naive, charming, funny – as it goes, he could be a Billy Pilgrim or Stony Stevenson – unstuck in time while the band plays on, the malady lingers, and only we see the banana peel.
Briallen Clarke is Kristiina, far more pragmatic in her Estonian no nonsense from here to maternity mind set – better to be evicted than starve, she says, stacking the shopping trolley to bulging budget breaking bounty. She cares for Andrew but fears that he is subjugating her parental prowess, is frustrated that her qualifications in aged care are not recognised in Australia, and is also suffering a major bout of homesickness.
Production values are as imaginative and economical as O’Sullivan’s script, with designer Isabel Hudson's row of shelves working nicely to evoke library and larder, both stocked with food for thought and the belly.
Directed by Dominic Mercer and Produced by Samm Ward, The Block Universe is a place where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts, but some things are not so beautiful and sometimes there’s pain. So it goes. So go.
Old 505 Theatre presents
The Block Universe (or so it goes)
by Sam O'Sullivan
Directed by Dominic Mercer
Venue: Old 505 Theatre | 5 Eliza St, Newtown NSW
Dates: 7 – 25 June 2016
Tickets: $35 – $25
Bookings: old505theatre.com
