The Martian Parable: A Dark Comedy’s Stark Warning

Kathryn Marquet’s play Second Coming is a scathing critique of humanity’s prospects in the face of catastrophic collapse. Set against the backdrop of La Boite in Brisbane, this dark comedy is not just a farcical tale of a Martian mission gone awry but also a sharp indictment of our era’s priorities.

The play’s premise is a chilling reflection of the world we live in: a corporate-funded interplanetary mission to save humanity by delivering animals and marketing products on Mars. The multinational crew, comprising a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, a Bible-bashing captain, a reality TV star horticulturalist, and a computerized assistant spewing moralistic aphorisms, is a microcosm of our planet’s ills.

The ship’s owner, Zane Brookbank, dials in from Earth to read the crew their morning prayer and remind them of their mission. This grotesque parody of corporate paternalism is juxtaposed with the crew’s personal struggles – Evie’s doubts about her quest, Noah’s obsession with social media, and Alan’s virtual reality escapades.

As the ship nears its destination, it becomes clear that Marquet’s vision of humanity’s future on Mars is not one of hope or renewal but of repetition and decay. The play reflects back at us the darkest aspects of our own society: our addiction to social media, our prioritization of profit over people, and our willingness to sacrifice individual freedom for corporate interests.

The recent announcement by SpaceX to colonize the moon instead of Mars serves as a stark reminder that we’re not taking the existential threat of climate change seriously enough. Our world’s response has been one of collective shrugs – a lackluster acceptance of our fate without any real effort to change course. Second Coming offers a glimmer of hope, but it’s tempered by the knowledge that we must fundamentally alter our values and priorities if we’re to survive.

The play’s success lies in its ability to distill the essence of our crisis into a compact narrative. Marquet’s trilogy – which includes Pale Blue Dot and The Dead Devils of Cockles Creek – has been developed by Playlab Theatre and staged at La Boite, cementing the theatre company’s reputation for tackling tough subjects with humor and nuance.

As we watch Second Coming, we’re forced to confront our own complicity in this crisis. We see ourselves in Evie’s doubts, Noah’s social media obsession, and Alan’s virtual reality escapades. The Martian mission is not just a story about saving humanity but also about saving ourselves from our worst tendencies.