Theatre Review: X at the Lace Market Theatre

Gilda and Clarke are scientists and Cole and Ray are astronauts. They receive a message from earth that the relief crew will be a few days late.  But when did they receive that message. The first act opens with an anxious Gilda (Mary Sullivan) who can’t remember when they received the transmission. Was it days ago or weeks ago? She and Captain Ray (Richard Young) can’t seem to agree and that bothers her as does the red X on a wall she keeps asking Clarke (Tom Pulse) to clean.

All the ‘action’ and conversations take place in the station's common room, a simple space with a table and chairs, drink station, a large round window looking out at the nothingness of Plutonian space and above that window a large digital clock. The conversations that take place in pairs seem random but through them we learn that Earth is dying or possibly dead. The oldest member of the crew Ray recalls the last time he ate real meat from a once living animal and not a Petri dish while Clarke recounts the time when he was about six that he saw and touched one of the last trees. Clarke also uses a bird whistle daily to recreate the sounds of his favourite, not long gone, birds so he will never forget.  All the time the crew reference their general confusion about how long they have been there and still no word from earth. Exhaustion, confusion, frustration and anxiety are consuming everyone. The first act ends with a shock.

The atmosphere and conversations change in the second act with some conversations and portions of the audience thoroughly confused. I noticed early in that the digital clock was regularly changing time, I assumed it was a stage tool to convey a sense of time moving forward. But something confuses me, the crew are talking about Captain Ray and his funeral.  We only saw him minutes ago.  Interactions become a little more tense, I can’t figure where the fifth character Mattie (Ally Saunders) has come from but we hear a lot from her. Confirmation of something odd going on comes when the rather solitary and extreme mathematician Cole (Malcolm Todd) tells Clarke he is working on a time algorithm since noticing random and more frequent changes in the digital clock.  

We are ruled by time, when we get up, when we eat, when we start and finish work, when we sleep. The crew had been using the earth time digital clock to manage their days and now begin to understand the changing clock is the cause of their exhaustion and confusion – but for how long?  Has it been on the fritz for days, months or years?  How long had they been there?  Had something happened on earth, was it an experiment or just a broken clock and no one on earth cared enough to send a relief crew.

The crew dwindles with no answers but the station is built to last decades so there is no way out other than extreme measures and no clear explanation in sight for the crew or the audience. X may be a commentary on loneliness, it may be speaking to our gradual destruction of our planet, it could be an analysis or our reliance of the concept of linear time and the comfort and order that brings or it may be tragic tale of isolation leading madness – a tale that could just as easily be set in a sunken submarine, a cave, an attic or an island.

A small and simple set, great lighting and music and a well-choreographed scene of about 10 towards the end support five superb performances on the opening night. A slow burner but worth your time although I think you will have to make your own conclusions about what it’s all about.

X plays at the Lace Market Theatre from Mon 28 September until Sat 03 October 2026.