02/06/2024
“It’s easy to see why Qualia was an award-winner in 2019, and the shape that it’s in today is indicative of a massive intellect channeled through an impressive prism of genre and creativity. With themes and subject matter touching on AI, isolation, and upended paradigms, it’s hard to believe that the original version was written before COVID-19 and ChatGPT; Gardner’s eerily perceptive drama pulls from all of these sources we now know to be collectively traumatic, and the impact is deeply memorable.”
Tickets for the final weekend are still available! http://tickets.rentheatre.com/qualia
Review: Qualia
Renaissance Theatre Company
A visit to The Renaissance Theatre Company (“The Ren” as you’d normally hear it called) is always unique, one way or another - naked vampires, a disco unicorn, and drag queens, oh my - and this new-ish play, written by local Orlando artist Ashleigh Ann Gardner, is no exception. Originally penned in 2019, Qualia displays an almost astonishing prescience given the events in the years since. The production now presented at The Ren has an updated script, deemed as “new and final” by Gardner, with aims and aspirations beyond Orlando.
Situated in one of The Ren’s more intimate performance spaces, the stage lies between you and your seat upon entering the theater. Though perhaps forced by the building layout, it’s an inspired bit of immersion, literally making you walk the path that the characters you’re about to watch for two hours will soon tread. It wasn’t uncommon to see audience members pausing to examine the set dressing (beautifully done by J. Marie Bailey, Bekah Lugo, and Gardner herself); there’s an aspect of privacy invasion that dovetails with conversations soon to be had in those exact spaces.
Qualia tells the story of Alex (Megan Borkes), a medical professional who has been living alone in a post-nuclear- apocalypse world for many years, accompanied only by an incredibly advanced AI named Dominic (Jason Blackwater). Her days are spent gathering supplies, maintaining the bunker, and attempting to create a biological vessel for Dominic to be downloaded into. This “homeostasis” is shattered when Seth (Jullien Aponte), an old flame to Alex and a scientist himself, appears out of the wasteland. With the invasion of the outside world that Seth represents, Alex is suddenly forced to confront the nature of the relationship that she has with Dominic, her perspective on the work she is doing, and the hopes that she once had - and maybe still does - for what her life was meant to be.
This review could not possibly be complete without making mention of the behemoth undertaking that Megan Borkes is accomplishing here. Not only does she spend nearly the entire duration of the show onstage, but for most of that time, she is alone and speaking to a character that is not physically present. What could have very easily become stagnant is actually quite dynamic in large part thanks to her performance and the staging by J. Marie Bailey. Borkes also responsible for doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the technical jargon, of which there is much - perhaps too much - to explain the experiments and procedures going on. While these passages of terminology lend a sense of authenticity and authority to the script, they also create a bit of an esoteric divide every now and then. Thankfully, Borkes sails right through them with an air of familiarity that eases the audience through any confusion; we’re safe with her and with Alex, because they both know what they’re doing.
While Borkes is impressive in her own right, along with Blackwater’s voice acting, the show really takes off when the trifecta is completed by Jullien Aponte’s entrance. Aponte is truly stellar to behold; his Seth is lived-in, and completely, utterly, real. If acting is reacting, then what Aponte is doing here is being. Even though he is a scientist, Seth serves as an everyman to the audience, allowing us to finally see Alex’s relationship with Dominic from the outside. It creates an interesting dynamic so early in the show: Seth’s perspective makes us reconsider our perception of Alex’s attachment to Dominic. Jason Blackwater does an incredible job of, ironically, infusing life into a voiceover-only role as Dominic. Using a live actor to voice the AI is great for dramatic purposes, and it’s also thematically poignant; the only trouble comes in very human moments of tripping over words. It happens to all of us, but it doesn’t happen to computers.
As the first act ends, a sense of cliche hangs on the show like a boilerplate episode of Black Mirror. The interesting thing about employing these tropes is that these are not ideas typically explored in the medium of live theatre. Qualia is an engaging kitchen sink drama - if the kitchen sink was a in a bunker 100 years in the future, and the world had effectively ended around it. Putting us physically in that bunker, making us wait inside in silence while Alex ventures out into the wild; these are unique perspectives that you can’t get from watching this sort of story on a screen. Cramming us all into Alex’s bunker creates a claustrophobic sense of immediacy to the action. The only catch is that there is never really a sense of actual danger from the outside world (like Seth potentially carrying radiation, or the pair eating a rabbit that’s been living in a nuclear wasteland, for example). The hazards that these characters face are purely emotional.
The true genius of Qualia emerges after the intermission. By leaning into genre cliches, Gardner allows you to fancy yourself foresighted and imagine that you know where the story is going; but even going into the final minutes of the show, it’s almost guaranteed that you don’t. A contentious not-quite-love triangle emerges between Alex, Seth, and Dominic, unraveling the already tenuous circumstances. The tension in watching Alex decide what to do - rejoin the world with Seth or stay in the bunker with Dominic - is a tightrope act laden with nuanced reasoning for either choice. Seth represents the future, and uncertainty, but also a self-made promise of humanitarian purpose fulfilled for Alex; Dominic represents comfort, surety, and the damnation of that same altruistic intent. Borkes and Aponte tear up the stage in a staggering argument that lasts nearly ten minutes, while Blackwater’s heartbreaking delivery in several moments of awakening leave Borkes utterly devastated on an empty stage. The contrast from the first half is enough to make you sit up and lean in; if act one was bit of a lob, act two knocks it clear out of the park.
It’s easy to see why Qualia was an award-winner in 2019, and the shape that it’s in today is indicative of a massive intellect channeled through an impressive prism of genre and creativity. With themes and subject matter touching on AI, isolation, and upended paradigms, it’s hard to believe that the original version was written before COVID-19 and ChatGPT; Gardner’s eerily perceptive drama pulls from all of these sources we now know to be collectively traumatic, and the impact is deeply memorable.
The show runs for several more performances at The Ren - catch it here in town up until February 11, before your next chance is all the way at Edinburgh Fringe. (You can donate to the artists’ efforts to get the show there with this link.)
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Benoit Teves is a critic with The Orlando Performer and an independent essayist and reviewer of film, television, theatre, and more. His pieces on entertainment of all kinds can be found published in The Orlando Performer and on his blog, The Rec Room.
