“OUT of sight, out of mind”: In the history of long distance relationships, this has been a much-used maxim. But advances in technology mean this isn’t necessarily the case anymore.
Spanish-New Zealand theatre collaboration Love You Approximately explores the nature of the modern, long-distance relationship through characters Imogen and Pere. Actors Lara Fischel-Chisholm (Imogen) (pictured) and Olmo Hidalgo-Solé (Pere) have never met in real life. For the performance, Fischel-Chisholm is live on stage in Wellington, while Hidalgo-Solé is only ever seen on a video screen, his part pre-recorded in Spain.
“The characters have a one night stand in Barcelona where Imogen’s on her OE. She comes back to New Zealand and they start contacting each other over [free video telephone service] Skype,” says director Julieanne Eason, herself a New Zealander living in Spain.
“Long distance relationships can be really romantic. You have to find little games and ways to entertain each other and keep each other amused. Things like sending little poems, that you wouldn’t necessarily do in day-to-day interaction.”
But being able to “see” them all the time can come with its own issues, “Like the endless frustration of feeling very close to a person but not being able to touch them.”
The relationship in Love You Approximately isn’t just maintained online, it begins there. “You get to choose what you want to present, you can correct any emails that you send; you get a very one-sided view of a person. When you create a relationship in that way, you run the risk of meeting them in real life and thinking ‘you’re not the person I know’.”
Does technology hinder or help long-distance love to go the distance? Love You Approximately may offer some answers.
Love You Approximately, Downstage Theatre, February 15-March 5.