The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union by David Greig
Directed by Emma Baggott
Chandler Studio Theatre | The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow | BA Acting 2025
7 November 2024 ⭐⭐⭐
Casimir and Oleg are stranded onboard their space station circling the Earth, lost in space without contact for many years. In David Greig's play The Cosmonaut's Last Message... we meet the two as Casimir tries to fix the communication system but is overpowered by Oleg. Post-confrontation, Casimir tries to remember what his daughter looks like. Oleg knows he once loved a woman named Adrianna and he wants to send her a message but he can't remember her last name. It's all pretty distressing and heartbreaking when we realise they must have been abandoned and alone together for such a long time.
On Earth we follow Scottish civil servant Keith, his wife Vivienne and their pregnant neighbour Claire. Keith is having an affair with Russian club dancer Nastasja - Casimir's daughter. On his trip to London Keith meets Eric, a Norwegian peace envoy in the airport. Vivienne treats a stroke patient, and elsewhere a French UFO researcher has been trying to make contact with the Russian space module, but he believes it's an alien ship.
Greig's complex play weaves together the lives of these disparate characters who are unknowing linked by love, loss, and the vastness of the cosmos.
The Cosmonaut's Last Message is hard work from an audience member point of view. To keep on top of the various strands, characters and intertwining relationships for 3 hours is more challenging than it should be. I appreciate the ambition of the playwright: It is beautifully written to make us think about our lack of communication as a species, but as a work for the stage, it feels too long and bleak. There are barely any moments of light or humour, although the wonderful production and performances from RCS are always a pleasure to witness.
The Cosmonaut's Last Message is a difficult show to stage with so many diverse locations to cycle through frequently. The split staging in the Chandler Theatre allows for one side to represent (at varying times) the space station, a garden and a mountain top, while the other side becomes various rooms, an airport bar, a coffee shop and the strip club. One of the reasons I think The Cosmonaut's Last Message may work better as a TV series rather than as a stage show is that to represent each of these locations quickly and clearly on stage is almost impossible. In fact for the first few scenes with the cosmonauts I assumed that they were meant to be on a planet or on the moon given the organic soil-like surface that they were walking on.
What does work well on the RCS stage though is the incredible use of light and shadow that ensures this production is stunning to look at. And up until the end, the sound design had been exquisite with music, the sounds of falling rain and spoken voices working together in harmony. But unfortunately at the climax of the show the words of the cosmonaut's last message were mostly drowned out by an overly loud playing of Bob Dylan's "Times they are a changing."
On reflection, perhaps this was done on purpose... perhaps his actual words are not important - his actions and their far reaching impact are certainly indisputable. But it was odd that we couldn't hear the words that the show is named for.
The ending is also odd. The play does not end at what feels like the climax but rather trundles over into another scene, the relevance of which, I will be honest, was over my head.
There is so much to like about The Cosmonaut's Last Message; I found every character interesting, and their situations and relationships to one another expertly written and beautifully portrayed by the accomplished third year actors at RCS. Particularly strong, Blanche Morenville as Nastaja, Lewis MacDougall as Keith and Kelly King as Vivienne. And Lee Hughes popping up in varying guises as different cheerful proprietors throughout the show is one of the few elements to raise a smile.
There is no doubt that Greig's The Cosmonaut's Last Message is a good play that has been elevated by the superb production, direction and performances from the RCS team. I can see why it was chosen, not only to showcase a full class of acting talents, but to challenge the creative and production teams too. It is a fascinating play - a stark exploration of the human connection and the search for meaning. But no piece of theatre needs to be 3 hours long or should make the audience work so hard to join the dots.
The Cosmonaut's Last Message... was staged at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from Tuesday 4 - Friday 8 November 2024.
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The Cosmonaut's Last Message Cast (Thursday 7 November, 2.15pm)
Patrick Ashe Bernard
Liberty Black Sylvia
Dmitry Everdeen Oleg
Holly Howden Gilchrist Claire
Lee Hughes Proprietors
Kelly King Vivienne
Sofia Kyrychenko Ensemble
Lewis MacDougall Keith
Blanche Morenville Nastasja
Alun Qiu Casimir
Blair Ritchie Patient
Isaac Vincent Eric
The Cosmonaut's Last Message Creative Team
Writer David Greig
Director Emma Baggott
Set & Costume Designer Chantal Jarem
LX Designer Cameron McGrath
Sound Designer Carolina Sabino
Movement Director/Choreographer Jack Webb
The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union by David Greig at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, RCS Glasgow, BA Acting 2025, Directed by Emma Baggott
🎟️ Disclosure: I was invited to review this show and received a complimentary ticket in exchange. Whether I am invited or not has absolutely no impact on my reviews or star ratings.
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