Have you ever thought of a family car ride as a transformative experience? Playwright and short fiction writer Trent England (a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and best Microfiction 2020 winner) has. His new drama "Solitaire Suite"—based on the writer's short story "It Could Happen to You" (2020)—turns a countryside drive into an increasingly unsettling journey into the unknown and the eerie.
Now in a hauntingly absorbing online premiere by Hub Theatre Company of Boston, England's thoughtful play should have virtual theatergoers taking a fresh look at their own odysseys in the age of COVID-19.
Although a three-actor play, "Solitaire Suite" lives up to its name by exploring the transformation in question from the point of view of one character—namely wife and mother Celeste. Celeste vividly details both backstory and the trip in husband and father Pete's Volvo on generally unlit roadways as unspecified as many in "The Twilight Zone."
The initial backstory finds Celeste and Pete fetching son Tiger from a sleepover at the home of his good friend Lucas. Playwright England, smartly keeps Tiger's reason unknown for the middle of the night pickup. In fact, audience members only briefly hear from Tiger and never actually see him.
As a result here and throughout the concise play (just under an hour in length), theatergoers in effect become fellow passengers—sharing her unflagging efforts to understand the meaning of the drive's mysteries.
Those efforts become a kind of variation on conventional monologues as Pete and Tiger come to theatrical life in Celeste's account of the family's highly unusual trip. Quite simply, she is giving full voice to her feelings as a woman—especially in dealing with what she sees as Pete and Tiger's "guy stuff." Several contrasts clearly emerge. Unlike more rural Pete, Celeste comes from the city—"not here."
Less technically centered in communicating, she not only admits to not knowing where her cell phone is "half the time" but also reveals that she has left it at home. Celeste favors New Orleans jazz, hip hop, women musicians and NPR podcasts, while Pete appears to favor more digital and rock options. On the other hand, they seem on the same page about Tiger not texting during a movie. Still, Celeste allows that "maybe he's working through something."
That "working through something" may be accelerated by the mysterious aerial light that all three encounter at a kind of family and personal turning point. Celeste recounts their respective responses as well as Tiger's intense curiosity about the unknown entity.
She speculates that it might be an "advertising device." Pete points to the light and says "I think that's a UFO." For his part, Tiger enthusiastically advises "You should follow it." Remembering a break in Tiger's voice at Lucas', Celeste now sees him as "animated'' by what may be an adventure.
Over and above the exact identity of the object—which Tiger finds, the 'adventure' adds meaningfully to the trio's family dynamic." Celeste is touched by Pete and Tiger bonding. On the other hand, she wonders if she and Pete might be "biding our time between drives".
As she sometimes seeks a haven from their different philosophies—for example, she cherishes Brooklyn and he hates the city to the point of insulting streets, the title game repeatedly becomes a kind of comforting click.
Also comforting is director Daniel Bourque's taut direction. Marty Mason's powerful performance as Celeste—a tour de force of both vulnerability and strength. Christian Mancinas-Garcia convinces as the alternately distant and accessible Pete that his wife describes.
Michael Lin's voice catches Tiger's enthusiasm about the mysterious object as well as his earlier shyness and reserve. Praise also goes to Kyle Lampe for a properly eerie sound design and especially Justin Lahue for an evocative digital design.
As Tiger speaks of the object changing its shape, Celeste grows frantic and pleads to throw it out the window. Has her life reached existential cross roads? By extension, audience members are likely to experience respective moments of truth of their own.
Hub Theatre's strong staging of Trent England's remarkable play—its virtual nature notwithstanding—is a must-see examination of life and change from a woman's point of view.