veronicamae said: "^^^^ I agree on the limitations a small theatrical space place on showing massive space/time situations.
As a lover of space and sci-fi movies, the first option that came to mind as being able to work on a stage was The Martian.
75% of the movie takes place in a fixed place (the surface of Mars) with the only other settings being 1) a space shuttle (briefly), 2) a space station, and 3) government facilities/mission control."
But even with most of the action taking place in isolated locations, I just don't think it would work on an emotional level. Because again, the medium of cinema allows to FEEL that sense of vast distance. I can just imagine Watney onstage in the hub, only to have the set slide offstage, and the NASA office slides on. We just saw Watney slide offstage, so it's harder to buy that he's on another planet. It's not that we can't suspend our disbelief that he's millions of miles away, but the nature of theatre is such that we will always know that he's in the same space. In fact, that's one of the beautiful things about theatre: it can take characters who are far away from each other, and represent them in a shared space where a metaphorical closeness can be communicated (think, for example, the recent Betrayal revival, where the offstage character remains onstage to observe). In this case, we would want the exact opposite; we want to feel that vast, otherworldly distance between characters, and the true sense of isolation that would come from being the only human being on a planet.
Again, we can suspend our disbelief - but for what purpose? What would the medium of theatre offer the story that isn't offered in film or in the novel? And again, I'm not saying there's NO way to do it well. But whoever tackles the project would have to contend with these difficult questions, and find answers besides "because I can."
