Countercurrent Collective in Belfast has created an adventurous, thought provoking piece of theater outdoors that once again proves the organization is a welcome and fine addition to the city’s growing theater scene.
“Lungs” is a two-person play about a young couple trying to decide if they want to have a child or not. English playwright Duncan MacMillan wrote the show to be performed without an intermission on a bare stage. Countercurrent’s production has the actors perform on a carpet surrounded by wildflowers and plant life. They stand, sit and sprawl on it as the action moves from an Ikea store to their apartment to a public toilet, among other places. The audience is limited to fewer than 20 people who sit in metal folding chairs on three sides of the rug.
The play premiered in 2011 at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. It was revived in 2019 in London with Matt Smith and Claire Foy hot off the first two seasons of “The Crown” when they played Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth. That production was live streamed in June 2020 with the pair socially distanced due to the pandemic.
In Countercurrent’s production, the man (John Jurcheck) and woman (Madeline Bugeau-Heartt), who aren’t named, discuss how having children would change their lives and careers and the planet, considering how global warming is impacting Earth.
The humor in the show comes not from the science but from the trouble they have communicating their feelings to one another. Throughout much of the 105-minute play, one of the pair reaches for the other only to be pushed away. It is only by chance that they wind up together for a lifetime.
Last year’s play, “The Aliens” by Annie Baker, was performed behind downtown storefronts on a patch of grass. In February, the group presented Baker’s “Circle, Mirror, Transformation” in the Wellness Room of the Waldo County YMCA.
This summer, Countercurrent Collective has moved to a secret outside location not far from Route 1A. People who purchase tickets online receive an email the day before the performance telling them where to park and meet Producing Artistic Director Courtney Hayes, who leads ticket holders to the site.
Hayes also directed “Lungs.” She wrings all the humor and pathos from the script and adeptly uses a rug as a stage for her actors.
Jurcheck, who is married to Hayes, is charming as the befuddled lover who wants to say and do the right thing but often fails. Bugeau-Heartt is the frantic female, constantly overthinking things. There’s a spark that flows between them that makes theatergoers root for the relationship even if it is flawed.
Watching “Lungs” in such an intimate setting feels like eavesdropping on the couple who lives next door. The outdoor setting keeps the concern about climate change real. Newlyweds may not see much of themselves in this man and woman but the miscues in the relationship will be all too familiar to those who’ve been together for decades.
“Lungs” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 7. For ticket information, visit becountercurrent.com.
