Blink tells a modern, universal love story

The love story between the two main characters in Plosive Productions’ dark-comedy, Blink, begins to develop before either of them actually meet one another in person. 

Gabriella Gadsby as “Sophie” in Blink, on now at the Gladstone Theatre. WAYNE CUDDINGTON / POSTMEDIA

In the one-act play written by Phil Porter, the audience is introduced to two very shy and socially awkward individuals living in London. Jonah (played by David Whiteley) grew up on a technology-free farm/religious commune and has just moved into the flat below Sophie (played by Gabriella Gadsby), who is dealing with the loss of her father and job. 

In a grieving haze, Sophie secretly delivers a tablet (connected to her own webcam) to Jonah’s doorstep and their strange technologically-fuelled relationship of watching and being seen begins.

Director, Teri Loretto-Valentik, admits that in order to tell such an unconventional love story, she had to put aside judgments of the way that young people communicate and date nowadays. With apps like Tinder and OkCupid bringing more and more people together online, she realized that, at the end of the day, love is love. 

“It doesn’t change that they love each other. It doesn’t change that they’re grieving for people they loved that died. And it doesn’t change that they made some kind of connection,” Loretto-Valentik explains. 

Through the clever and well-choreographed use of cameras on stage and a projector screen set in the middle of it all, the audience is transported from location to location and have moments where they can watch Sophie on the screen like Jonah. As both characters become a bigger part of each other’s lives and their feelings of love grow, the audience begins to appreciate the uniqueness of the situation. 

“I think with these characters, especially because they’re so isolated from society, it would almost be impossible for them to walk up to each other,” says Gadsby. “They invite each other into their lives but from a distance.”

Gadsby, originally from Birmingham, U.K., shines as Sophie in her North-American debut. Unlike the character she plays, Gadsby met her Canadian boyfriend in person, though the events leading to start of their love story was a bit odd.

“I was doing an immersive show. I played the “Lady with the Feathers” and it was basically like an Alice in Wonderland-like show to interact with,” Gadsby explains. “I was doing this story with a group of guys and I just turned around and he was just standing there on the step below me, looking up at me all goofy-eyed and grinning his head off.” 

Since moving to Ottawa with her boyfriend, Gadsby has been working with the creative team of Blink to make the show meaningful to audiences of all ages.

“I feel like older audiences will get it because they’ve lost people very close to them and they’re lonely and isolated. Right now, there’s this huge lonely epidemic, especially with the older generation,” Gadsby says. 

Touching upon themes of memory, grief, and distance, the play heavily focuses on a universal feeling; loneliness. With subtle lighting changes and distinct stage boundaries set for each character, there are several moments in the play wherein the audience can feel the crushing solitude felt by Jonah and Sophie.

The dialogue is clever and (at times) swift between both characters as they explain moments in their past and present, giving the audience a more colourful picture of who they are. Though there are a few twists in the hour and 15 minute-long play, the characters remain genuine and real.

By the end of the piece, the medium by which the couple meet and continue loving each other, though necessary for them, seems unimportant to the audience. Blink offers spectators a warm-hearted and comforting piece that is a love story at its very core. As Jonah explains to the audience at the top of the piece, “Love is whatever you feel it to be.”