Ada and the Engine @ Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas
Photos by Kris Ikejiri
—Jill Sweeney
There’s a funny moment in a tense scene between the leads of Lauren Gunderson’s brilliant and fast-paced play Ada and the Engine: the protagonists of the play, the titular Ada (later Countess of Lovelace) and her friend/scientific collaborator are having a knockdown, drag-out fight over a paper they’re planning on publishing. Babbage, looking to hurt Ada, mentions her supposedly “foolproof” gambling algorithm, the failure of which has lost Ada a bundle at the racetrack (with Babbage bailing her out). “The algorithm was correct!” Ada insists: “The horses were wrong!” It got a good laugh from the audience at Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas’ witty, fast-paced production of the piece, as it should—it’s a funny line. But as the play went on, it was hard not to see more in it than a mere quip. Throughout the play, it’s never the math that holds our protagonists back—it’s their all-too-human selves.
A quick historical primer: Ada Lovelace, the darling of STEM circles everywhere, lived from 1815 to 1852, and is regarded by many (though not all) as the first computer programmer. A polymath, with an immense gift for mathematics, music, and languages, her collaboration with mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage forms the (semi-fictionalized) background for the play. Babbage is credited with originating the concept of a digital programmable computer, for which Ada wrote the first computer programing, though the computer itself (designed to be as big as a ballroom) never came to be during either Ada or Babbage’s lifetime.
The play opens on a young Ada (Cheyenne Haynes), brilliant and high-spirited, with her genius for mathematics on full display. The girl’s preference for the seemingly cold, passionless subject was cultivated by her stern mother, Lady Byron (Ivy Opdyke), with an eye towards curbing any artistic tendencies inherited from her father—the “mad, bad” poet George, Lord Byron (Leon Watson II), who left his daughter with her own brand of genius, but also, a wealth of scandal to taint her blood in the eyes of society. (Byron was a notorious bed-hopper, rumored that he even may have bedded his own half-sister).
Ada, despite her desire to be a “bride of science,” is being pushed to marry someone wealthy and respectable, to ward off the gossip that comes with being the daughter of a notorious rake. The kind but conservative Lord Lovelace (Lionel Gonzalez) would serve nicely. Complicating this scheme is the warm, intimate friendship she develops with fellow mathematician and inventor Babbage (Stephen Miller). Theirs becomes a true marriage of like minds that spurs them both into greater mathematical discoveries, and becomes the primary relationship for both (other interested parties/spouses notwithstanding). Ada and Babbage collaborate on plans for Babbage’s greatest (theoretical) invention, the “Analytical Engine,” a precursor to our modern computers. But when the two clash on how to present their ideas to the public, and as Ada’s health begins to fail, questions of love and legacy come to the fore.
The play lives or dies with the chemistry between Ada and Babbage, so it’s a pleasure to say that Haynes and Miller’s connection is tender and palpable throughout—a credit to both the actors and the director, Raven Lawes.
Haynes brings both vivacity and sweetness to her portrayal of Ada, but with just enough left-of-center energy to indicate how difficult Ada found it to fit into society’s mold of “acceptable behavior” for women of her time. Miller brings out facets of Babbage’s sweetness in scenes with Haynes, but doesn’t shy away from his less attractive qualities, notably pride and cowardice. The intense confrontation scene between the two that spans the intermission (ending Act One and starting Act Two) is a tour-de-force from both actors, finally tearing off the masks forced on them by society, and revealing hard, hard truths.
I enjoyed Gonzalez’ Lord Lovelace more than I’d anticipated upon the character’s introduction; though Lovelace is a bit of a stiff, Gonzalez played up his developing affection for Ada over the years, making the eventual endpoint of their relationship all the more devastating. Less successful for me overall was the portrayal of Lady Byron, which may have suffered from incorporating more recent, and more sympathetic, scholarship regarding her personality. Though the play depicts her (as was the conventional thinking when the play was written) as extremely cold and cutting to her daughter—even if it came from a place of motherly concern—Opdyke’s portrayal was a touch too sympathetic to position Lady Byron as the antagonist the play needs her to be, at least in my opinion.
The costumes (credited to Michael A. Robinson and the Dallas Costume Shoppe) throughout were uniformly excellent. Standouts for me were Ada’s baby-blue ball gown, cleverly converted to a more day-appropriate dress later; Lady Byron’s purple and gold jacquard gown; and Lord Lovelace’s periwinkle suit and matching cravat. But truly, there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. The visual effects created a pleasing contrast with the era-appropriate surroundings, with excerpts from Ada and Babbage’s letters, and illustrations of Babbage’s designs, projected on a screen at the back of the stage. (The design team includes scenic designer Ellen Mizener, lighting designer Mia Lindemann, and sound designer Ryan Brazil.) The last scene of the show makes for an interesting challenge—no spoilers, but it requires the representation of a sort of immaterial space. I wasn’t 100% onboard with the final product, but that may be more an issue with the script than with any directorial choices by Lawes.
Gunderson has been one of the most-produced playwrights in the country in several recent years, and Ada and the Engine makes an obvious case for why that might be. Her scripts are full of fast-paced wordplay, but never lack for heart—and a good plot to boot. Mainstage Irving’s production makes the most of this excellent script by pairing it with a strong, energetic cast and solid production values to create a truly memorable piece of work. And don’t worry if your enthusiasm for math (like my own) is nowhere near Ada’s level: there’s just as much of the humanities as the sciences at the heart of this piece.
WHEN: Through February 4th
WHERE: Irving Arts Center, 3333 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, TX 75062
WEB: mainstageirving.com
