DANIEL RADER
Lenne Klingaman and Allen Gilmore co-star in “Legacy of Light” at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton.
As “Legacy of Light” begins, Olivia, an astrophysicist living in Princeton, shares with her schoolteacher husband Peter three big pieces of news.
1. She believes she has discovered a new planet.
2. She has just totaled their car.
3. While in the process of totally their car, she has decided she wants to have a baby.
“Think about it,” she tells Peter. “If a galaxy can have a baby, why can’t we?”
What does one thing have to do with another? Not a lot, really. But “Legacy of Light” — Karen Zacarías’ 2009 play, which is currently being presented at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, with direction by McCarter’s artistic director Sarah Rasmussen — does not, in any way, conform to the normal rules of logic.
It’s a time-travel comedy, first of all. But that is just the start.
Part of it is set in 18th century France, where mathematician and physician Émilie du Châtelet (Lenne Klingaman) cheats on both her husband Monsieur du Châtelet (Zack Fine) and her longtime lover, the philosopher and playwright Voltaire (Allen Gilmore), by having an affair with one of Voltaire’s young students, Saint-Lambert (Trey DeLuna), who impregnates her while Voltaire is busy having various affairs of his own.
“We are French,” deadpans Voltaire, explaining why neither of the du Châtelets minds the other’s affairs.
There are ways, Émilie is told, to induce a miscarriage. But she refuses, even though she fears she may die in childbirth.
DANIEL RADER
Zack Fine and Kimberly Chatterjee in “Legacy of Light.”
Meanwhile, in modern-day Princeton, the aforementioned Olivia (Kimberly Chatterjee) and Peter (also played by Fine) decide to use a surrogate mother, Millie (Gina Fonseca), to bear the child they want to have, since Olivia is an ovarian cancer survivor who can no longer have a child herself.
Émilie and Voltaire are sometimes shown going about their 18th century business. But they are also shown as ghosts, after their respective deaths, interacting with each other and with the characters in 21st century Princeton. That is, when they’re not breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience.
But really, the craziest thing about “Legacy of Light” is its wild swings in terms of tone.
Some of it seems like a madcap farce, with old-fashioned witticisms and wordplay. When St. Lambert boasts to the vain, supercilious Voltaire that he is “a man with a title,” Voltaire snaps back that “that does not entitle you to court my lady.”
Yet the parts of “Legacy of Light” that address surrogate motherhood, and Millie’s tragic past and dreams for a better future, carry an emotional weight that the rest of the play lacks. And then there are parts of the play that go deep into scientific theory — with Olivia, for instance, explaining the Theory of Relativity and dark matter to a Montclair Girl Scout troop (yes, you read that right), and Émilie expounding on her theory that light and love share the same properties.
DANIEL RADER
Lenne Klingaman, left, and Gina Fonseca in “Legacy of Light.”
Scenic designer Andrew Boyce and co-lighting designers Jane Cox and Tess James take all the talk about light and run with it; this is one of the most visually impressive shows I have seen in a long time. Just check out the wild apple tree of light in the photo at the top of this page, for instance. (Voltaire, in the course of the play, suggests that he was actually the person who made up the famous story of a falling apple being the inspiration for Isaac Newton formulating the law of universal gravitation.)
Zacarías’ ending does tie all of the story’s different strands together, and provides both an emotional payoff and an inspirational message. What precedes it, though, it very uneven, in every way.
Rasmussen, in the show’s program, calls this work “A fleeting foray to a wild, magical realm where all the rules are loosened, new questions can be asked, and new possibilities can be discovered.” Certainly, the best way to approach it is in that spirit — by embracing its wildness, its ambition, its unapologetic strangeness.
Or, as Zacarías’ Voltaire tells us, quoting himself: “‘Stand upright, speak thy thoughts: They only live who dare.’ … Who would think that the simple act of looking at an apple would suddenly birth a whole new way of thinking about the universe?”
The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton will present “Legacy of Light” through April 6; visit mccarter.org.
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