My Planet and Me
A sad millennial receives telepathic communications from a distant planet.
Like. What do you even do in that situation? I don’t have a framework to process that, it’s ridiculous! Anyway. Come to my one-human supersensory speculative storytelling show to “find out” how I “dealt with it”.
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7:00 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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7:00 pm
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5:00 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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5:00 pm
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9:00 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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9:00 pm
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6:30 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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6:30 pm
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8:00 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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8:00 pm
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10
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1:00 pm My Planet and Me
See https://theatreinlondon.ca/2017/06/my-planet-and-me/ for details.
Location: TAP Centre for Creativity
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1:00 pm
Can a person have a relationship with a sentient planet?
The central character in Damon Muma’s My Planet And Me thinks so. In fact he knows so. The problem is that all others in his life are doubtful. His psychiatrist, the doctor that sent him for an MRI and brain scans and his girlfriend too.
Who would believe a person like that?
No one would but that doesn’t bother Muma’s character much. He knows he’s right. Anytime he’s in a situation, from feeling isolated at a party to sitting in front of a TV on a Netflix binge, he gets transported into an almost transcendent state with another planet.
It’s funny on the surface but as Muma the author makes clear, it’s part of a downward spiral for a man who has found his former companions Nora Ephrine and Sarah Tonin lacking.
In the role of the tortured man, Muma is an excellent unreliable narrator, his offhand charm and comic asides masking his clear decline.
By the time the end comes, it’s almost an afterthought. This is a case where the journey was the point. When the lights went up, the audience was still with Muma’s character even as he was dwarfed by the reality of his own circumstances.
If that sounds a bit obtuse, that’s because giving away the ending isn’t nice. And even if I did, it would mask the joys of watching a man working his way through life burdened by a planet love that was a problem for everyone but himself.
My Planet and Me: Isolated on Earth, Connect in the Stars
One man, essentially alone in his own world, finds a connection amongst the stars. And in Damon Muma’s My Planet and Me, we’re invited to follow a man who guides us down a path of his own introspection to an ultimate realization of what his true value is in the universe.
Muma’s character, despite having a girlfriend, a job, and friends, feels isolated from the world around him. He increasingly can’t relate to the lives his friends are leading, he feels stuck at work — the tedium of bus rides to and fro blending into an indistinguishable rut, and his home life begins to fray as the play progresses.
Instead, he finds a connection where he least expects it — in the stars through a sentient planet that is communicating with him. He recalls other moments in his life when the planet spoke to him — and while he doesn’t understand what “she” is saying, it moves him both physically and emotionally.
Eventually, Muma reveals his connection to his partner. And the truth of the communication comes out. And en route we’re presented with an engaging look at what it means to connect, how connection can make one feel special or important, and how we cope with the connections — or lack thereof — around us.
Muma is a wildly entertaining storyteller. He also pokes fun at himself and the often overwrought nature of one-person shows. At one point he states, “You came here to watch me wallow,” and reinforces the idea that audiences want to see sorrow, strife, and self-analysis.
While he toes the line of being obnoxiously self-deprecating, he never crosses it. His dialogue plays with the common tropes of one-man plays, acknowledges them, and then progresses. It’s a wink-and-a-nod to our expectations of these types of shows and he knowingly guides his character and the audience through the play’s progress. Muma never portrays himself as better than the traditions, but is aware of them, and embraces them — both for good and bad.
The production runs about 10 minutes too long, with the final scene doing a disservice to what comes before it. It feels a little preachy and heavy handed and takes away from the opportunity to leave the audience questioning what was and wasn’t real. Ending the play at a moment when Muma is undertaking some deep breathing would have been a far more poignant and open-ended way to finish the play, but I’m sure others will disagree.
My Planet and Me starts as a “what if” story about a man talking with a planet. But it’s strength lies in exploring the deeper questions of what is communication and why is it important to us. Exploring one man’s connection to the stars will cause you to evaluate your connections here on Earth.
Have you ever had the experience of linking your mind with a sentient planet millions of light years away? No? Me neither — but Dave does. Maybe.
We’re not sure at first, but during this play we discover the truth.
Although the production is modestly set — just a black box of a stage, a few chairs, and a couple of hanging lights in the background — Damon Muma fills the space with soundscapes, lighting, and movement that helps tie the story together.
Though the show’s cast is composed of just one man, Muma has crafted the story in such a way that we are able to visualize the other people in his life. We can empathize with the feelings they’re having — many of whom are having a hard time coming to terms that he is not crazy.
On the show’s website there is a trailer to coincide with this show, and while I was watching the play, I felt as though I was watching a stylized indie film: the story of a man living a mundane life, except he has a secret. He has a telepathic connection with a planet.
Eventually, we find out the truth behind the connection, but I won’t ruin it for you here — it’s something you need to see for yourself. However, part of the fun is playing along throughout and trying to decide whether this connection is the product of a fractured mind, something that’s been medically induced (like through seizures or a tumour), or, perhaps, it’s legit and he really does possess the power to communicate through the stars.
My Planet and Me is a standout show. The use of the space, the tech and sound and the expertly crafted language of the script combine to create a show that cleverly examines mental illness without excessive melodrama or after-school-special “lessons.” Turns of phrase, linguistic imagery, and metaphor are this shows particular strength, delivered throughout by a competent and self-aware performer who doesn’t lose track of his audience. The ending is a shift away from the subject matter of most of the rest of the piece, but remains as well-crafted and intriguing as the rest of the show.