Review: This Little Earth (Arcola Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️

People believe a lot of things. Some of it seems perfectly sensible, certain things evidenced by science, others held as part of firmly-held faith, and some… a little harder to comprehend. One theory, or sometimes a conflation of several theories, is that Earth, the planet on which you and I live, is flat. In her debut play, This Little Earth, Jessica Norman attempts to offer insights as to why two people may be so assured of this belief, and how far they will go to find evidence in their favour.

Playing in the downstair space of the Arcola Theatre, This Little Earth begins with Honey and Christopher at the bottom of a crevasse, or so they believe. They soon find that they are on a snow-bridge which could shift and collapse at any time, and despite Christopher’s injured leg, Honey manages to talk him into investigating the potential exit a light from below suggests. Norman’s script shifts back and forth between the pair’s meeting and plotting this journey, and their struggle for survival once trapped at the bottom of the crevasse.

Refreshingly, for a show where a belief so absurd to so many is this central, Honey and Christopher do, for the most part, speak with organic, believable dialogue. Norman also blends the timelines well, keeping when and where we are clear without sacrificing the naturalism of the dialogue, and as the play progresses finds clever moments to reduce the separation between the past and present, dialogue moving seamlessly into one or the other. The story does become slightly laboured once the Flat-Earth belief is introduced, and it can be hard to believe just how easily one party convinces the other, not to mention the slight disappointment of their planned (and somewhat criminal) journey to Antarctica taking place almost entirely unseen.

Fanta Barrie plays Honey with sensitivity and subtlety, keeping the character’s grief over her recently-passed sister close to the surface throughout. On paper, her being sucked into extreme beliefs is hard to follow, but as portrayed by Barrie it’s clear why she would cling to whatever could bring some sense to her feelings of confusion and despair. Ross O’Donnellan, as Christopher, brings the right balance of post-truth, Reddit-fuelled conspiracist and awkward everyman to the role, the darker touches of the character both surprising and, in retrospect, clearly laid out.

While both performers are strong individual, the chemistry between them is less consistent. Sometimes this works in the show’s favour, bringing to our attention just how poorly-planned and likely to fail their endeavour is, while at other points it makes it difficult to believe that they would fall in love at all, never mind so quickly. Imy Wyatt Corner’s direction and blocking creates an easy physical connection between the two, and nicely displays those early moments of meeting and being instantly charmed, but something between the actors never fully sparks to life. Corner also utilises a minimal staging well to present changing locations, which does help us to follow along with both the courtship and the expedition, even as one becomes more believable than the other.

On the physical side of things, intimacy director Hamza Ali must of course receive credit, with there being moments of sensuality created by the physical presentation of the actors, and Ali’s work as movement director helping sell an early moment in which we need to be quickly made aware of how badly Christopher’s leg is injured, without the need for any prosthetics or visual aids. As he tries to place weight on his leg, we can almost feel the pain as he drops himself back down to the icy ground. With Ali and Corner at the helm, locations and stakes become much easier to follow, even with a singular set standing in for the sets various locations.

Antarctica’s vastness is brought to life through the periodic echoes provided by sound designer Jamie Lu. Lu’s work is subtler in other areas, but helps to cement the world of This Little Earth and, as with these echoes, creates a strong sense of atmosphere. Lighting and projections come courtesy of Hugo Dodsworth, who at first makes masterful use of darkness to create immediate stakes, and later utilises the hanging curtains of Cat Fuller’s set to create some striking images. A sequence in which we see Honey go down the rabbit hole of Flat-Earth theorists online is eerily effective, and a near-finale moment is made captivating thanks to Dodsworth’s electrifying contributions.

This set, designed by Cat Fuller, is deceptively simple but continually effective. A single double-sided ramp centre-stage allows us to envision the uneven terrain on their ill-fated search for the ice wall they believe to surround the planet, and several curtains hang in different lengths, creating icy walls, flurries of clouds, or whatever visual the scene may bring to mind. Using a mirror as Christopher’s model of the supposed “True Earth” is an inspired choice, perhaps suggesting that such an extreme theory is rooted more in the needs of those who believe it than any genuine evidence. After all, reading the playtext on the journey home I noticed something I had missed during the show – a reference to a theory that if you leave one side of the Flat-Earth, you will appear, Pac-Man-style, at the other – which points to a strong insight of Norman’s: People believe what they need to believe, and will make whatever logical leaps are needed to hold onto those beliefs.

Despite its stumbles, and some late-show choices from both writer and director that will likely divide audiences, there is a lot of nuance and insight to be mined from Jessica Norman’s play. Heading home, I was struck with curiosity about how genuine Flat-Earthers might receive the work, as well as a newfound fascination with how people come to such a belief, and whether instances and unexplainable moments in their lives have caused them to cling to something that seemed previously unthinkable. In that respect, it’s hard to argue that the play has not succeeded in its exploration, and unique explorations into grief and how people process it will always make for thoughtful, totally welcome new work.

This Little Earth plays at the Arcola Theatre until November 15^th

For tickets and information visit https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/thislittleearth/

Photos by Johan Persson