Not all stories set on Mars are like ‘War of the Worlds’, the classic HG Wells novel written in the 1890s that changed the way we thought about outer space forever.
Granted, some are just as far-fetched, like ‘Total Recall’, while others are more realistic, like the recent Ridley Scott film ‘The Martian’.
But rarely do we get kitchen sink dramas – there is something too dramatic about ‘The Red Planet’ to transpose our sad earthly existence to its Martian landscape.
Until now …
Month-long race starts tonight
In ‘Same Shit, Different Planet’, the final piece of Fergal O’Byrne’s trilogy is specially written for The Theater Companythe plot revolves around dental care!
According to That Theatre, this is a “quick and humorous look at the future – an emotional, funny, touching, whimsical, robotic, thirsty, thought-provoking, dusty comedy”.
Directed by That Theatre’s artistic director, Ian Burns, the five-strong cast features regulars Katrin Weisser (God of Carnage) and Peter Vinding (Art) alongside a number of fresh faces.
The exciting play lands on the ground for a month-long run at Kruddtønden, which starts tonight and includes eight performances a week: five evenings, Monday to Friday 19.30, two matinees, 13.00 Tuesday and Thursday, and a 17.00 show on Saturday.
Set almost 130 years in the future
Set in 2251 after the colonization of Mars – so 12 years before ‘The Fifth Element’, 23 years before ‘Logan’s Run’ and more or less the same time as the USS Enterprise was built – an unknown microbe causes human teeth to decay at a fast pace.
This may be related to a mandatory medication administered by the authorities to suppress a population where the number of deviants is rapidly growing.
“Can people learn to trust other people when they do not share the same history, identity or heritage?” considering the Theater.
That’s a big question considering that the participants in the war in Ukraine can tick all three boxes and still be at each other’s throats.
Completing the arc of the trilogy
The first two parts of O’Byrne’s trilogy, ‘Extremophiles’ and ‘Rub-A-Dub-Dub’, were both set in the more immediate future, so it really feels like ‘Same Shit, Different Planet’ is coming to a close a bow.
At their heart, the plays are about human relationships and why they are so essential to our survival as a species.
One of O’Byrne’s specialties is how he manages to find optimism in the most unlikely of places.
A playwright who knows his technique
The other is his knowledge of technology – a field he has had a successful career in, starting two companies in his native Ireland. The sale of one of them enabled him to move to Copenhagen a few years ago to focus on his writing.
“I love technology. People consider me a geek because my bedtime reading would be a book about Mars, a book about the history of science and a book about artificial intelligence,” he told CPH POST.
“Technology is part of all my writing: it makes sense as I’m qualified in that field and can talk about it without having to invent it or switch to non-factual information.”
Reserve your tickets here.