“Where Tang Met Laika”

Jan. 22 — Feb. 27 Space Theatre, DCPA

Patrick dreamt of traveling to space ever since he was a young boy. He wanted to experience the most tremendous view it offered, a new way of looking at the world and find clarity about life and faith. Will space travel be all it was cracked up to be? Most importantly, what will happen when it is time to return to Earth?

“When Tang Met Laika” depicts the difficulties encountered with space travel—the most obvious being when a space shuttle is destroyed during re-entry, as was the problem with the space shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003. More subtle issues explored in the play include cultural understanding, love, assimilation to space and Earth, faith, morality, parenting and coping with the loss of a loved one.

All the actors and actresses in the play give merit-worthy performances despite the lack of character development. The minimal investment in the characters causes us to not care whether the main character, Patrick (Ian Merrill Peakes), stays with his wife (Megan Byrne) or pursues a relationship with Elena (Jessica Love).

Love did a stellar job in her debut role at the Denver Center as the Russian cosmonaut who falls in love with Patrick, but she refuses to accept it or show it until the end of the play.

R. Ward Duffy as Yuri Gagarin with Laika in the Denver Center Theatre Company world premiere of “When Tang Met Laika” by Rogelio Martinez, directed by Terrence J. Nolen. Photo courtesy of DCPA.

The most intriguing scene is when Elena sees her uncle, Yuri Gagarin (R. Ward Duffy), the first human in outer space and hero of the Soviet Union. She cannot believe her eyes. Based on his attire and her expression we know he is a ghost.

The spirit of Uncle Yuri is pleasantly shocking and spooky in this scene. Unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain the fascination with his mysterious presence—his appearance becomes so commonplace he is no longer peculiar.

The first scene with Yuri is a success because it is unexpected and not obvious. Most of the other scenes lack a certain subtlety that would make the play more enjoyable.

The author, Rogelio Martinez, leaves nothing open to interpretation. All of the dream scenes are signified by the characters wearing a black eye-mask and saying, “this is a dream,” or “I am dreaming.” Perhaps the playwright thought we wouldn’t understand otherwise, but the black eye-mask was enough of a clue to demonstrate the character was dreaming. The repetition of each character saying, “this is a dream” becomes a nuisance.

The messages Martinez tries to convey through the play are strong and important, but there are too many crammed into such a small place. The most significant moral is not identifiable because several of the themes tie for the role. Are we supposed to learn to settle our differences for the greater cause? Is the theme to follow your heart? Is the moral that heroes are humans too?

It is Martinez’s wish that individuals must decide for themselves how to solve this mystery.