Anna Burnside reviews ‘a jolly piece of work’ that lacks originality.
In the wake of an alien invasion, Cassie is scavenging a living, syphoning petrol out of abandoned cars and putting Carnation Milk in her tea. She takes pity on another survivor and asks him in.
Then discovers he’s a stone-cold weirdo.
Malcolm, who prefers to be called the Space Cowboy, is not only a sci-fi freak: he’s a bona fide conspiracy theorist, with all the charm and charisma that implies. There’s a good joke about his terrible hat.
What transpires is a thorough takedown of the infuriating self-righteousness of those who have “done their own research” into everything from Covid vaccines to the arrival of one-eyed aliens with extremely long necks.
It’s a jolly piece of work. Gowan Calder has exasperation seeping out of every pore while Ross Mann remains resolutely unlovable as the stubborn believer of every bonkers theory going.
Designer Fraser Lappin does his best with the budgetary limitations of PPP, and his impressionistic set and DIY aliens are clever and funny. What it fails to do is add anything to the debate or change anyone’s mind. Unfortunately.
Cassie and the Space Cowboy was at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint. Its run finished on October 26, 2024.
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