Like every good science fiction blockbuster, it begins with a looming soundtrack and slow pan over a gigantic starship poised for interstellar conquest.
Except what if that ship was made from an old ironing board and iron?
In Transcendent Space, the latest work-in-progress presentation by Ghost River Theatre’s 2024–25 artist in residence Robin Leveross, that question of what does a lone astronaut do to battle monotony, cabin fever, and the lingering question of whether she will ever contact home again is asked.
It’s answered by her transformation of everyday objects into something, quite aptly for the name of the production, transcendent.
“It’s kind of a reminiscent of like old school, low-tech visual effects, like using a little model and if you put lights behind the thing, then you get this effect. There’s so much creativity in making these spectacular images is with very modest means,” said Leveross.
What this means is audiences will get to see something entirely unique on a Calgary stage. All of the sets, lights, and effects are made with objects that people might find in their own home.
But just like big-budget Hollywood productions like Star Trek right down to the lowest budget short films, those objects take on a new life when repurposed to become part of the sci-fit plot.
Ghost River Theatre’s Artistic Director Eric Rose said that allows the audience to discover new ideas and hopefully be let in on a real sense of play.
In fact, both Leveross and Rose took a recent trip to Canadian Tire to purchase rubber tubing and a shoe mat, which then became a head dress reminiscent of the alien opera singer from 1997’s Bruce Willis blockbuster The Fifth Element.
“This just gives you a good opener for kind of what we’re aiming for,” said Rose.
Another conceptually similar production, albeit also on film, includes the Michel Gondry film Be Kind Rewind, which sees characters recreate famous movies in-camera without CGI or fancy special effects.
“He’s able to create these incredible effects, but he’s always using in-camera effects. He’s not using CGI, he’s using the medium itself, and I think that’s what we’re doing,” said Rose.
Audience members are invited to help shape the show
The work-in-progress nature of Transcendent Space also means there’s a fair bit of improv in the show. It’s something Rose said that completely fits with the idea of a character but also allows the audience to connect with the astronaut on a metaphorical level.
“It’s about also how do we frame things in a way that allows the audience not only to fall in love with this character, but also, in some ways, to delight in that same imaginative discovery,” he said.
“What I’ve found with this kind of work is that you often hear the audience go, ‘oh.’ You can hear it very viscerally when people get it. When they first see the surrogate, the Star Destroyer, and then at some point they go, ‘oh my God, it’s an ironing board.'”
For Leveross, who has a long history of work as an interdisciplinary set designer, prop designer, and puppeteer, Transcendent Space is also a work that allows her to bring that side of the theatre to the forefront instead of in supporting roles.
“I’ve been seeing theatre since I was a young child, and I just remember absolutely being mesmerized and transported by the sets and costumes. I would always trying to figure out how they did a magic trick. That is how my brain works,” she said.
“There’s this other element of it where it’s like you’re doing it in a way in which you can either mask the trick so the audience has no idea how it’s happening. Or you can do it with such simple means that it’s so obvious, and yet it becomes very magical because you know exactly how it’s done, and you’ve just never seen it.”
Audiences are invited to stay after the performance to participate in an artist talkback with Leveross, and to share thoughts that will help shape later versions of the show.
Transcendent Space runs on Feb. 7 and 8, at the West Village Theatre. Tickets are $15 or by pay what you can, and are available through Eventbrite.
