REVIEW: THE INCREDIBLY SCARY OBJECT at Jack Studio Theatre 20 – 31 August 2024

“reconciles the gravity of the unfolding drama with an offbeat, breakneck humour” ★★★★

The unlikely symbiosis between science and fiction is often remarkable only in retrospect. In the late 19^th and 20^th centuries, stalwarts of the genre such as HG Wells and later Robert Heinlein can claim to have predicted email, voicemail, nuclear energy and the atomic bomb. In Joe Evan’s deceptively daft new play, ‘The Incredibly Scary Object’, this incongruous relationship is tested via the slightly implausible scenario that NASA’s Writer in Residence is recruited to mediate a press conference concerning a lost space probe, which has been sent to investigate a sinister extraterrestrial anomaly.

To the post-Covid audience, the press conference tableau will appear grimly familiar, elegantly recalling the pacifying language of the state in times of international crisis and confusion. The audience is further ushered into the world of the play via a slickly produced and cannily observed slideshow, depicting cast members demonstrating their credentials in reassuringly academic publications. Ultimately though, the key to this production’s success is its ability to reconcile the gravity of the unfolding drama with an offbeat, breakneck humour.

The opening dialogue between NASA scientists played by Joe Edgar and Alex Crook exemplifies the strengths of Edgar’s writing. Edgar, here helpfully performing his own writing, provides dialogue dense with workplace repartee; the comforting familiarity between cloistered colleagues, working obsessively, often thanklessly, on the kind of minutia that is typically inscrutable to laypeople, only to be suddenly elevated to international scrutiny. Despite the complexity of the material, Edgar's Poindexter ensemble of academic professionals convey both the push-and-pull of relatable industry politics, the poignant discrepancy between that which is ‘known’ versus that which is ‘believed’ and, importantly, a digestible ethical dilemma.

Assured, intelligent performances from the cast are complemented by astute direction from Jessy Roberts, with an eye for symmetry and the inherent theatricality of the press conference setting. The striking onstage and filmed visuals are in turn facilitated by an eldritch-adjacent original score by Stanley Welch, which thrillingly exploits the unfolding space oddity.

Any structural imperfections in the narrative are made forgivable by this watchable and playful celebration of profound albeit whimsical hypotheses. At 95 minutes, this production arguably runs overlong, which compromises the otherwise satisfying ending. However, overall, this madcap production is more than ready for a larger audience and further development opportunities.

Photography credit: Sosij Productions

The Incredibly Scary Object, Joe Edgar,

Jack Studio Theatre,

20 – 31 August 2024, (Sosij Productions)

Book The Incredibly Scary Object • Jack Studio Theatre (brockleyjack.co.uk)