Writer and Director: Kashyap Raja
Writer Kashyap Raja has billed this as a children’s story for adults. But it’s more than that. It’s more like a parable or fable, grabbing us with some magical elements and pushing forward various strands of thought that should lead to a lesson or revelation. What the lesson is – that’s a different matter.
Drop (Tim Atkinson) meets the Earth (Vanessa Toral Díaz) on the day he was born. She is with him as he discovers everything new and teaches him to marvel at her every symbol. Suddenly, on Drop’s 15th birthday, the Earth becomes angry and erupts in a volcanic event that destroys his village and kills his parents. It changes him totally, and pushes him away from home to university then to space to experiment with bacteria on Mars.
He meets a girl in space who convinces him home is where he’s needed, thus beginning the third period of the play where he becomes a form of off-grid guru. He creates a farm on the ashes of his old home and exhorts internet strangers to visit and contribute to his utopic experiment.
The boy is Raja’s route to get talking about desires, ambitions, responsibilities and becoming mature in thought and deed. As the boy grows, his journey brings up a selection of pivotal points and it’s lovely to watch him make choices and carry on. Drop is sweet and curious at the start, but after the tone shift, post-volcano, an edge of something unsettling slips in. Obstinate instead of focused, closed off instead of vitally keen to explore and learn broadly. Tim Atkinson is great as Drop – energetic and charismatic, a sweetly cartoonish young nerd before he goes all in on the secluded farming.
Through Vanessa Toral Díaz’s character as the Earth, some wonderfully romantic imagery is brought forth. She’s the one who names the moon as her best friend and unrequited lover. And it is through her that great sweeps and arcs of geological time and deeply human questions are made intimate by placing the planets in a family unit, and explaining the stars as the ascended souls of those on earth who reach the end of their life.
While the broad outlines of this are entertaining, there are constant snagging points that create inconsistencies and questions. Some points are not clear (the eruption is somehow linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, timelines of his space travel and other things are vague and unrealistic) and the story meanders through a few ideas before settling. The character’s shift to cultish cut-off living also strikes an odd tone.
It’s enjoyable to experience a children’s story for adults. It’s whimsical, fun, and some of the passages that revel in the glory of nature are beautiful. However, it’s hard to shake the fact that kid’s stories are designed to teach and pass on ideas. Between Drop’s early death from rejecting modern medicine, his weird sustainability cult leadership, his deep knowledge of physics and science, the surprising indulgence in an open relationship and more, it’s just not clear here what’s intended as the takeaway.
Runs until 4 February 2023
