Alan Flanagan blends homosexual rom-com with sci-fi odyssey to attractive impact in The Silver Bell on the VAULT Festival
“Bascially whenever you make a decision, the universe splits into different versions of events”
I hated physics at college. And even now (and whilst a fan of sci-fi), the mere point out of scientific jargon can deliver me out in a chilly sweat. But Alan Flanagan gently folds his model of sci-fi in The Silver Bell right into a homosexual rom-com and asks us to take a trustfall with him into the unknown. The result’s gentle on heavy science and heavy on gentle attraction, as he explores how far we’re keen to go for ‘the one’.
We first meet scientist Mico and actor James as a well-established couple, bickering about the way to inform the story of their relationship, squabbling over minor particulars of their very cute meet-cute, seizing the initiative to steer on tangents in regards to the poor Brockley Jack theatre or vibrant landladies in Vauxhall. And then a wrinkle emerges, a punch to the abdomen comes however fairly than wallow in queer tragedy, a definite left flip is taken.
Without wishing to provide an excessive amount of away, for there’s highly effective emotional beats at these reveals, the embrace of the multiverse is boldly completed however flippantly worn (this isn’t the place to contemplate the affect of temporal paradoxes). Instead, there’s a gently compelling odyssey of kinds, a journey to try to fight grief and what it may possibly do to our worlds, to discover the boundaries of deep, death-defying, soul-shaking love.
Dan Hutton’s path performs confidently with narrative voice, the interaction between the couple but additionally between previous and current and between a number of worlds, Amy Hill’s powerfully efficient lighting design aiding the final immeasurably. And Flanagan (as Mico) and Brendan O’Rourke (as James(s)) are tenderly nice, a sincerity to their performances even within the comedian moments, which underscores the gravity of the emotional connection right here.