PINK SPIDER MEN
Globe Theatre, 104 London St, Dunedin
21/03/2012 - 24/03/2012
Production Details
THE OUTSOURCING OF MEMORY – neutrino flash damage – the google effect
art – what is art? – why does modern art behave so strangely?
myth – sensation – unexplainable images – cognitive dissonance
evolution – where did this brain come from – WHY DOES MY BRAIN BEHAVE SO STRANGELY
THE WINNERS OF THE 2011 BEST THEATRE AWARD (Dunedin Fringe Festival) ARE BACK WITH THE STRANGEST THING THEY’VE DONE YET.
“… (they) make it look not only easy but delightful fun. … this is a substantial piece of intellectual (in the good way), interesting, well-conceived and well produced theatre…. Bloody well highly recommended – Theatre at its best.”
-Patrick Davies, Theatreview on Theatre As Is’ ONCE WAS
“…This is just the sort of experimental, risk-taking theatre that many associate with Fringe… Many passages in the performance require fierce concentration, almost, dare I say, possession, and The Theatre As Is have the courage to take up the challenge.” – Terry MacTavish, Theatreview, about TWINS
“Every year we try to do a show that works mainly from images… TWINS had no dialogue, yet had a strong story; MY FIRST ATTEMPT used music and props much more to engage the imagination… Pink Spider Men goes further with all these elements, but has dialogue as well… but employed in such a way that you really have to change your assumptions about “what is a story, what is a relationship”… We’re trying to get the audience to use all six of their senses equally… well ok, maybe not taste as much…” – Jimmy Currin, actor/writer/director in Pink Spider Men.
“Four “actors” cast adrift by the Great God of Terrible Theatre. What does one’s “culture” mean when the whole world is crowding in at every corner changing the scene?” – what it says in the Fringe guide about Pink Spider Men.
Globe Theatre
Wednesday 21st of March
to Saturday 24th of March
7.00pm start each night
tickets $18 / $12
from www.dashtickets.co.nz
or on the door (CASH ONLY)
with
CYNTHIA WUN
PIU-PIU MAYA TUREI
RORY HERD
JIMMY CURRIN
special disembodied appearance by
RICHARD HUBER
Technical operator: Bronwyn Wallace
1hr 30min
An aural and visual assault
Review by Jennifer Aitken 22nd Mar 2012
Having seen the majority of As Is productions over the last three years, I constantly find myself at a loss when trying to extract any specific meaning behind their work. Unsurprisingly Pink Spider Men is no exception.
This show sees four performers of differing ages, ethnicities and sexes interact sporadically with each other, the space and a plethora of seemingly insignificant props and costumes. As with some of Currin’s other pieces – My First Attempt being the most obvious – the performers roam freely in the vast open space, shining lights, drawing on the walls and floor with chalk, rolling, warbling and throwing things.
As Currin both directs and performs in As Is productions, they lack the refinement and editing that an outside eye can provide. As a result their shows often possess a number of beautiful moments and images but they become crowded and undermined by the remaining 90% of the shows.
Two small sections of Pink Spider Man remain in my brain. One is the Ophelia-esque sequence where Puipui-Maya Turei walks ever so slowly, dressed in a strapless black dress, into an opaque blue rectangle of fabric that is stretched across the stage. The second is a story-telling sequence where three performers interactively perform elements of the story as it is being narrated.
Pink Spider Men is both an aural and visual assault, and is as unpleasant as a strike to the face. At approximately three quarters of the way into the show (although at the time I am both unaware and fearful of how much longer it might go on) Currin exclaims, “I’m dying over here, please, please …!” and I can’t help but identify fully with him in this moment.
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