Review of 20% Theatre Company's Fugue for Particle Accelerator

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Fugue for Particle Accelerator. It was written by Kristin Idaszak and it was directed by Lavina Jadhwani. It was about a woman named Hope (Pamela Mae Davis) who had a cat named Schrodinger (Erika Miranda) because Schrodinger made the idea of the cat in the box. Hope studies physics and her big idea is that there are alternate realities or parallel universes, like how when the cat is in the box it is alive and dead at the same time. In the parallel universes Hope is both a cellist and not a cellist and a mother and not a mother, which makes the story so interesting and a brain puzzle, so I loved that! In the universe that we track the most, Hope is a scientist and she has a boyfriend named Jonas (Dan Cobbler) who really wants to have kids, but she is not so sure. Then, one day, she gets out of a car to throw up and she meets this guy named Christopher (Noah Laufer) who is basically homeless and doesn't know anything about himself. The play is about science, mysteries, and the choices that you make in life. I thought this play was super fun and exciting. It had a lot of depth to it and you really got to know who the characters were--even the cat! I loved it. It closes really soon (October 18) so you better go see it!

I felt like the science in the show was so cool. I knew a little about what it was already because of Radiolab, which is a really awesome science podcast. It is also kind of like a Dr. Who type of thing, where there is traveling to different universes. Thinking how there might be another me somewhere who makes different choices is really cool to think about and very interesting. And it worked really well in this play to see a bunch of different versions of one person put into a play. It makes you wonder if this theory is true. When you are watching a play you are watching people make choices and in this play you are watching people making multiple choices in different universes. And that makes it even more interesting. I did feel like the ending was a little disappointing. I did understand that it was Hope in another universe, but I didn't feel like I had enough information about the new place to really understand what the ending meant fully. So I guess that having a lot of universes in one play is really awesome and interesting, but it can get confusing, especially if you are in a new place just for a few seconds at the end of the play.

All the men seemed to be in love with Hope. But the thing was that Jonas seemed to make bad choices sometimes and sometimes he seemed very sweet. When he tried to poke holes in places where he wasn't supposed to poke holes, that was not a sweet version of him. But then when he showed his girlfriend how much he loved her, that was the sweet version.Jonas and Hope were strong and smart and adorable together. They were not the stereotypical romantic couple that you usually see on stage because they weren't lovey dovey just wanting to get married. They were strong and smart and adorable together. Hope didn't want to get married; she just wanted to be boyfriend and girlfriend forever. And he wanted to get married and have kids. Her priorities are to win the Nobel Prize, which has been her dream for a very long time, and she wants to be able to fulfill that and learn to travel between universes. That is not the kind of story that you see on stage all the time and I really like a change in the theater. And Christopher is the other man who loves her, but they can't be together for many different reasons, which I won't spoil. I found that relationship interesting too because they had only just met but he felt liked she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. And she loved him too, but in more of a nurturing way.

The cat was really sassy and funny and made me laugh a lot. I loved how she described where her name came from. Schrodinger sounded so proud when she talked about where her name came from, and I just loved that. I think she might have been my favorite character. And there were some scenes where Hope would go into the parallel universe, into the box where Schrodinger could talk, and they would have scenes where they could talk together. I found Schrodinger so sweet because she wanted it all to turn out well for Hope. I also loved how the cat would drink martinis throughout the show. It was like one of those hilarious cat memes of a cat doing things a cat would never do. And I love funny cat memes, so that is a very big compliment. She was also the narrator, but it seemed like she didn't just tell the stories of the characters. She kind of wanted to control them. She controlled them some, but she couldn't control them completely. Because the narrator didn't have control of the story, it felt like something could go terribly wrong at any moment and that was very exciting.

People who would like this show are people who like alternate universes, strong and smart couples, and martini-drinking cats. I think people should definitely go see this show. It was fun and really really interesting and I loved it.

Photos: kClare McKellaston