“In These Uncertain Times” with Source Material
Max Berry, Contributing Critic
The absence of live theatre over the course of the past several months has left artists feeling unsure of where to go and forcing them to look for new ways to express their creative energy. Many have, of course, turned to Zoom to produce pieces online, telling stories within their own little Zoom box. This, while still being able to see the people you care about and sometimes even being able to make art, can be profoundly isolating.
“In These Uncertain Times”, devised by Source Material and directed by Samantha Shay, takes those feelings of isolation, loneliness, confusion, and the desire to create and packs them all into an hour that rings all too true for everyone during this time. The show is a devised piece that centers around six artists on a Zoom call struggling with where theatre and life in general is going post-COVID. Each artist deals with these fears in different ways allowing anyone to find something that they have felt or experienced.
The show opens with a scroll through Instagram. We see images of COVID related posts and “feel good” “Just hang in there” kinds of posts as well. These Instagram interludes returned periodically and each time they did they hit me like a ton of bricks. The feeling of endlessly scrolling through social media hoping to find anything but things related to the pandemic and watching videos of old theatre and longing to be on stage or in an audience again was all too familiar. The first of many familiar things that tugs at your heart. Starting the show with that set the stage (set the Zoom?) right away.
This was intensely personal and intensely real. That’s the best way to describe this show: real. This is also done throughout as the comment box on Zoom was actively being used by the characters to have secondary conversations, a brilliant addition that allowed for much more than what Zoom might allow otherwise.
These moments of raw realness don’t stop with the Instagram interludes either. The piece presents a multitude of moments that are incredibly powerful. From dance sequences of intense drinking to get through the isolation to one of the characters putting on a graduation cap and gown and dancing hopelessly around the living room. Though, spectacularly, the most heartbreaking moment came from a text conversation between two of the characters towards the end of the play. The conversation feels desperate and hopeless and all too reminiscent of real conversations many of us have had. Discussing love and next steps and incorporating beautiful music, this scene manages to be incredibly moving without ever showing the actors on screen.
Though, it should be mentioned that when the actors are on screen they work incredibly well together and handle the Zoom platform perfectly. They weave the realistic and abstract moments of the piece seamlessly and in the end you are left feeling somehow hopeful and hopeless at the same time.
“In These Uncertain Times” is the perfect reflection of how artists are feeling at this moment in history. It is a play that shows all the hurt and fear but also the love of those around us and the desire to create. The result is something both tragic and heartfelt. We, of course, are all missing live theatre, but until it returns honest pieces like “In These Uncertain Times” are exactly what we need.
“In These Uncertain Times” was devised by Source Material and directed by Samantha Shay. It runs July 25th-Augsust 2nd on Zoom.
It features: James Cowan, Miles Hartfelder, Annelise Lawson, Stephanie Regina, Raven Scott, and Grace Tiso.
For more information on the show as well as Source Material, visit www.sourcematerialcollective.com.