By Galen Simmons

Whether she was set up by the gods as a scapegoat for all things chaotic or curiosity got the better of her, Pandora was always going to open that box, allegedly unleashing all the evils of mankind.

In Pandora, the first-ever production to be staged as part of a winter season for Here For Now Theatre, the play’s writer and sole actor, Jessica B. Hill as Pandora, takes the audience on a wild ride through space and time, exploring the juxtaposition between order and disorder in the universe, and how human history is dictated by cause and effect as well as what seems like random chance, all in search of a grand unifying theory of everything.

While on a macro scale, the universe seems to follow the rules of physics, Hill takes her audiences on a philosophical dive into the concept of quantum entanglement – a fundamental phenomenon in quantum physics where particles on a microscopic scale become interconnected, such that the state of one particle instantly influences the state of another, regardless of the distance separating them.
And she extends that concept to how people influence one another; how someone in one place or time can have untold impacts on people on the other side of the globe or thousands of years later, despite never physically coming in contact with one another.

Through stories from our collective history that Pandora witnessed first-hand, having been cursed by the gods to watch the chaos she unleashed, backed by stunning visuals projected onto a simple backdrop, or illuminated from behind it – the only set piece in this production aside from Pandora’s Box itself – and underscored by an ethereal soundscape, Hill’s tireless monologue poses question after question about humankind’s innate need to explore the unknown, regardless of whatever that unknown might unleash.

Pandora also questions her own role in history. Is she truly to blame for all things bad in the world, from genetic baldness and daily traffic congestion to the development of the atomic bomb and humankind’s scientific curiosity that could one day consume us all? And is there a way she can make it right?

Having admired Hill’s performances in recent productions at the Stratford Festival like Sense and Sensibility and As Your Like It, I can safely say this production is an opportunity to see the actor and writer in an entirely different light. She’s funny, she engages with the audience and she tells Pandora’s stories in such a way that takes those of us lucky enough to hear them to disparate places and times without having to rely on extravagant costumes and sets.
Sitting in Here For Now Theatre’s small, black-box theatre, it felt as though Pandora had gathered us all, there and then, for a reason. Was it to be entertained or was it so we could experience something together that will never again repeat itself exactly as it did on opening night?

Personally, I got both out of this play, and I highly recommend you go see it before it closes so you can too.
Pandora runs at Here For Now Theatre (24 St. Andrew St.) until Nov. 16.