Transmission
Written by Tanya Marquardt
Co-directed by Tanya Marquardt and Heidi Taylor
Co-created and performed by David Bloom and Deanna Peters
Co-presented by Chrysalis Theatre and Proximity Arts
Transmission is an hour-long exploration of human disappearance, told through the specific trauma of a brother losing his sister while she is abroad. She simply disappears, and has perhaps been abducted and tortured. A non-linear experience, the narrative unfolds through the text, movement, and the occasionally blistering use of music and lights.
The play is held together by the connection of the brother (David Bloom) and his sister (Deanna Peters). Although the two performers never physically connect, they frequently come close through mirroring movements and overlapping narrative. Their intimacy is conveyed through simultaneously relayed stories from childhood, which are funny and poignant. Peter’s beautiful use of movement and vulnerability make her believable as the tough, chaotic sibling. Bloom’s quiet internalism reveals the destructive wake of loss without resolution.
Although Transmission was well conceived and smartly executed, I did not connect fully with this work. Because all of the action was rooted in the past, the present lacked fundamental dramatic tension. The isolation of the characters, while obviously relevant to the theme of disappearance, was unrelenting and made the relationship feel abstract. The beautiful poetry of the text was not grounded in any meaningful context of action. All the talk was just that…talk. The siblings had shared an abusive childhood, which really just made the piece unremittingly dark.
The set was clever, with practical microphones set into the walls and functional clock radios hanging from the ceiling. These devices conveyed the theme of transmission through time, whether it was the transmission of the human voice or of radio waves. These details also contextualized the sister’s memory as the ghost of her previous “transmissions.”
There is a lot of abstract potential in the work: transmission of our past and abuse into the present, transmission of emotion, and transmission of memory. However, these themes seemed mostly academic. Perhaps the empty-handed feeling of the story is appropriate, given the loss and uncertainty of the sister’s fate. However, the story would have been better served had it grounded the audience in a stronger emotional foundation. As it was, the heart of the piece was not compelling enough to leave me with anything more than abstract appreciation.