Review: HESPERUS, PHOSPHORUS! at the Ottawa Fringe Festival

APJ Productions’ Hesperus, Phosphorus! was off to a fantastic start. In Petrograd at the dawn of the Bolshevik Revolution, Maksim (Luke Paviour) comes home after his bomb fails to detonate, and discovers a despondent Polina (Salomé Stokes). Polina is a down on her luck countess, who has been cast out of the nobility and forced to work as a governess for her uncle in the house her father once owned. Maksim, Polina’s lover, works as a servant in the household. Even though Polina’s class level has changed, she still views herself as superior to Maksim. Maksim clearly loves Polina but treats her with equal parts of tenderness and cruelty. With a tough decision to make, which direction will Polina choose?

Hesperus and Phosphorus are both names given to the same star, the morning star, and the evening star, and both represent the planet, Venus. The philosopher, Gottlob Frege used the phrase “Hesperus is Phosphorus” to describe the theory of meaning, since both names represent the same object even though they have different connotations. Likewise, the characters struggle with duelling identities.

Stokes and Paviour both give strong performances, though neither character is particularly sympathetic. The storyline has potential, but feels incomplete. The backdrop of the Bolshevik Revolution could have led to some interesting social commentary or a history lesson, but the narrative instead focuses on back and forth barbs between the indecisive lovers. The play is relatively short, and the playwright had more time available, but did not use it to further develop the story. I am hopeful that Hesperus Phosphorus! will be further developed and that its setting and characters are revisited in an expanded version in the future.

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