'An Ark' Off-Broadway review — new play straddles the lines between technology and reality, life and death

Read our review of An Ark, a new mixed-reality play at The Shed that virtually stars Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene, and Rosie Sheehy.

Summary

• An Ark is a mixed-reality play in which audiences use headsets to view projections of four actors discussing the journey from life to death
• Ian McKellen; Golda Rosheuvel; Arinzé Kene; and Rosie Sheehy perform virtually
• The show's high-tech setup does little to enhance the story by Simon Stephens
• The show is recommended for fans of the actors and those interested in the use of new digital technologies in live theatre

We have not yet reached the "singularity" of technical innovations surpassing humans, and most people have seemingly stopped caring about VR headsets, but none of that is stopping producers Tin Drum and The Shed, writer Simon Stephens, and director Sarah Frankcom from giving mixed-reality technology a shot in the new play An Ark, performed virtually via headsets worn by the audience members. The result is less Ernest Cline's Ready Player One or David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ and more like PS1 avatars floating before viewers and delivering an extended monologue.

Stephens has done an adequate job crafting specific memories with a decent amount of texture. The viewer is invited to become the subject of these recollections, belonging at once to four “different” characters across gender, race, and stretching across their lives from birth to death. Actors Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene, and Rosie Sheehy describe the events and feelings of these memories with potentially tantalizing detail.

The viewer grew up in the desert, or in the city, or in the suburbs; they had a child, or never had a child, or learned to tolerate children; they almost went pro in soccer or ended up at a dead-end job. The variances and malleability of these remembrances is a little overwhelming given that none of this is actually ever enacted. Rather, the four digital actor-avatars merely recount all these events — peaking and valleying in their banality and poignancy — while seated in virtual chairs before the spectator. Nothing is acted out, nor is the headset wearer invited into a space where they can turn these described scenes into something actionable, dramatic, or involving any kind of movement.

For all the supposedly novel tech involved, it’s a rather dull experience. Even at a compact 45 minutes, An Ark began to lose this critic’s interest after the first 20. While a live performance of this text staged in the same way wouldn’t be much more interesting, at least its liveness would connect the performers and audience members. The ephemerality of the mixed-reality venture, meant to conjure the liminality of not-quite the afterlife, is compelling in theory, but the show does little to challenge or excite beyond its gadgetry.

A strange limitation on the technology is how it affects peripheral vision: In any other live show, an audience member can focus on one actor and still see the others, occasionally tuning into their reactions or gestures. But the headsets only allow two full performers, and slivers of the others, in one's field of vision, which means there’s a lot of head-turning as the actors talk (they seldom ever engage in actual dialogue or even interesting cross-talk). To tune into a non-speaking performer often means cutting out a couple of the others entirely, an effect that is both distracting and apparently not used for dramatic purposes.

The creators, via the actors, appear to want to use the tech to interrogate what it means to imagine and remember, especially when so much of our everyday lives has become digital and intangible. But there’s not enough going on in the text or production to push a viewer to reflect on the strange in-betweenness of our memories in the material world or the digital one. And despite the show’s reliance on the feeling of death’s inevitability, and of life flashing before one’s eyes, An Ark just feels like a mirage.

An Ark summary

Four actors — Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel, Arinzé Kene, and Rosie Sheehy — virtually appear like holograms via headsets. They send the audience into various memories and recollections of four characters, who might be themselves and might be the viewer. Through these reminiscences, viewers live through multiple identities, loves, losses, and personal rebirths on their way to death.

What to expect at An Ark

The Shed asks audiences to take off their shoes and check their coats and bags, though these rules don't really affect the experience of the show. Glasses wearers can get an attachment for their headset to fix the focus since you can't wear the headset over glasses. Everyone sits in chairs in concentric circles, oriented around a large bulb-shaped paper lamp.

What audiences are saying about An Ark

Theatregoers have taken to online forums like Reddit to discuss their experiences at An Ark.

• “I'll leave the plot of the radio play outside the scope of this review, but I'll note that the direction of virtual characters was noticeably better even in GTA 3, released 25 years ago, than in the quartet featured in An Ark.” - Reddit user u/frombratsk
• “An Ark is a lazy excuse of an experience - a 'mixed reality play' that has absolutely zero interest in the medium it's chosen to present itself in, sitting in nuetral gear for 45 minutes as it prays you're gullible enough to be interested in the vague idea of a soul.” - Reddit user u/TrustfundPunisher
• “[At] no point was I convinced that we needed to be in a theater to watch it, it would have been a better experience on my couch at home toh. And what's the point of spatial video if you're not doing to have spatial audio to complete the illusion?” - Reddit user u/Bradaigh

Read more audience reviews of An Ark on Show-Score.

Who should see An Ark

• Fans of Ian McKellen will be curious to see a digital avatar of the renowned actor, who is always a compelling performer.
• Those who loved Simon Stephens’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or his recent Andrew Scott-led adaptation of Vanya may want to check out his latest work about the moments that comprise life and death.
• Those curious about new digital technologies in artistic spaces might be interested in how the show uses digital avatars and real-life space.

Learn more about An Ark off Broadway

An Ark has a bunch of bells and whistles — the headset, the early-generation holograms — but the experience is ultimately as hollow as the actors’ avatars.

Learn more and get An Ark tickets on New York Theatre Guide. An Ark is at The Shed through March 1.

Photo credit: An Ark off Broadway. (Photos by Marc J. Franklin)