“X” by Alistair McDowall
Nottingham New Theatre

It seems so long since I was last here at the Nottingham New Theatre, but I’m so glad that I managed to get in on the last night of “X”, the play by Alistair McDowall.

There are four occupants of McDowall’s marooned space station, which has lost contact with Earth, though there may well be a ghost in the machine. Gilda ( Nat Henderson) and Cole ( Charlie Basley) are scientists. Ray ( Callum Walker) and Clark ( Jack Linley) are astronauts. It becomes clear that they have left behind a native planet where trees and birds have disappeared and people depend on bomb shelters.

They face their own crisis on Pluto, where not only is there no connection with home but Gilda hears strange voices, sees a strange girl (Abie Whitehead) and the digital clock goes haywire. And has the mysterious visitor (Helen Brown)come to save them all?

What is happening? Clock watching is not a thing I do in the theatre but this clock does need keeping an eye on, seriously!

One by one the space ship crew end up in the freezer, including quite a gory suicide from Cole. The final two slowly going insane. Does anyone escape? Well there's the question because the ending provides another possible outcome from the story which is both sad but rather eerie as well.

It may all sound very dark, unsettling and depressing, being stuck in one place where there is no escape and you’re hoping someone will come along and rescue you, but never knowing when that will be, but there are sparkles of comedy scattered around the script.

There is a creeping sense of unknown danger which builds within the two hour production, and I'm so pleased that there was no interval because you need to keep that unease going, and Director Joe Strickland really ramped that up. I can only imagine the difficulties Joe may have had with the slow burner, but his large technical team succeeded in bringing this sci-fi/horror play to life before our eyes.

The sound design ( Tara Prasad and Rupert Galea ) and the lighting design (Nadia Elafi) added more menace to this creepy play.

A brilliantly performing cast and wonderful technical crew keep up the NNT reputation for presenting fresh and evocative pieces of theatre.

Bring on the next one!