Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Maimie McCoy, Tom Glenister, Bertie Cresswell, Jonathan Forbes Elliott, Joanna Monro, Tom Kiteley, Ruth Everett, Roger Ringrose.
There are moments which truly bring existence into sharp focus. The individual shares the exceptional with maybe just a few others in their lifetime, but what makes one person stop and think is not the same as that which is witnessed with astonishment by the collective human race when that moment sparks a revolution of thought.
It takes one image, one discovery, just one single out of the ordinary incident to set in motion a chain of events that will forever alter the belief of those it touches; and whilst in our lifetimes it is the cause and effect such as 9/11 that has come to define us, what if it was something that was witnessed on another plane of existence, another planet that joins our own on its journey…what if we actually witnessed a message, the Calls From Far Away.
Katherine Soper delves into the heart of science fiction’s most beguiling question, the moment before possible contact, the knowledge that at one point there must have been a species completely unknown to us that was capable of leaving a message, a sign of its existence for us to decipher.
It is in that moment, elegantly captured by the superb Maimie McCoy in the role of journalist Jodie, and how her own life is changed as she is present when the scientist discover the extraordinary on Pluto. It is in the fall out of the moment, the alteration of a viewpoint that divides humanity, those who sneer and claim forgery and fake, and those who see it for what it is, a proof that we are not alone.
The fallout continues as Jodie’s personal life is overturned through her relationship with her son, Leo. It is in the interplay between the two characters over time that frames Ms. Soper’s play, and whilst the ramification of the joined experience proves too much for many, it is the sadness that the mother and son now only communicate from distant parts of the world as one hopefully looks to the stars and the other understands the issues facing humanity on Earth, withdraws and concentrates fully on helping those suffering.
A decently told story, one unafraid to explore the dichotomy of discovery, the pain and the ecstasy of knowledge.
Ian D. Hall