How far would you be willing to go after loss to find your love again? Scientist Mico, grieving the premature death of partner James, harnesses the power of quantum physics to crash through multiple universes in search of a perfect, preserved version of his departed husband. Initially, Mico and James affectionally bicker and snipe over the particulars of the story, and just who will control the narrative. In the first half, Mico defers to James who reveals splinters of vulnerability and panic amidst his gregariousness, given what is to come. 

The audience is led through a warm anecdotal history of their relationship, from its meet-cute beginnings to the painful eventual end as James succumbs to the debilitations of motor-neurone disease. The shorthand is skilful, offering quick but meaningful glimpses and sharp observations into the central relationship. The recounting is laced with a disarming rowdy humour and playful vibrancy. Brendon O’Rourke as vainglorious aspiring actor James invests his character with a vociferous charisma, charging through the world. In contrast, Alan Flanagan (doing double duty as writer) gives Mico a more reticent, thoughtful demeanour, an introverted charm. There is no doubt that this couple, although outwardly opposites, is devoted to, and respectful of one another. O’Rourke and Flanagan excel in establishing a sweet and winning chemistry, open and affectionate. This committed connection makes James’s gradual decline all the more devastating. When the moment arrives, with a degree of casualness that belies its enormity and impact, Flanagan’s descriptive dialogue achieves a form of poetry.

Blasting off from this tragic interlude, the sci-fi element takes command of the second half, Mico driving the action. Discovering a means by which to travel dimensionally, he begins a search for replacement. The actors are assisted atmospherically by Amy Hill’s simple but powerful light design which clearly signals movement into every new reality. The audience meets a parade of versions of James, some straight, some gay, some pansexual (mostly all insufferable). O’Rourke roars with comic exuberance through a succession of Jameses, clearly relishing the opportunity for affectation and exaggeration.

There’s a heartbreaking and unexpected interaction with an alternate of James’s mother in which it’s suggested a distraught Mico may have neglected to keep in contact. Even months later, the poor woman is unable to use the monumental formal medical terminology, referring to her son’s condition euphemistically as ‘the falling disease’.

After an exhaustive search, Mico finally meets up with an iteration close enough to his beloved with whom he has a poignant and pointed conversation. This encounter takes place while his own alternate version is out of town for the evening. Stand-in James, calmly receiving this most bewildering visit, is touched that there is a Mico who exists who would wield ‘the work that he loves to find the person he loves’, travelling so far and wide. He challenges Mico with a simple and direct question about why he wishes to erase his grief. Perhaps this odyssey was undertaken more for self-preservation? Mico may need to realise his care for James was always fated to be part of his epic love story, not something to be corrected. It may be enough that another rendition of the couple lives happily and healthily in another universe, but central Mico and James lived the life they were meant to live. 

At times the pivot to comic conceit, meant of course to buttress the material from reading too bleak, threatens to blunt the impact, but the overall integrity of the script and performances maintain a sure grounding. Director Dan Hutton keeps a tight, no-frills focus.

A tender and delicate set of movements courtesy of Sacha Plaige conclude the evening, a series of trust falls and gestures of support, delivered with quiet physical agility. It’s a demonstrative visual catalog of ministration and service. An audience departs not in despair but buoyed by the joy of an ingrained and enduring love. 

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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