How wonderful it is to be watching theatre again in the Christchurch CBD, especially something non-traditional. The Powerful Event is a piece of immersive site-specific theatre, which takes place on an empty central city lot ringed by ruined buildings. 

Firstly, we are introduced to mysterious super-corporation Nouveau Monde Global by its CEO (via iPhone, naturally), and welcomed by two hilariously enthusiastic key members of staff (Tom Eason and Alice Canton) who extol Nouveau Mode’s virtues. One happy site-specific accident is that the amplified sound from this introduction bounces off of the exposed walls of what buildings are still standing near us, creating a peculiar echo effect that makes it feel like they addressing the whole city.

We are separated into three groups and corralled into inspirational development hubs (shipping containers, of course), where we are asked to don Nouveau Monde branded ponchos (empowerment vests) and participate in a parody of corporate training exercises and team building games. These are overseen by a bevy of manically grinning Nouveau Monde team leaders and analysts who lead us through chants of empty platitudes (“A dream of tomorrow, tomorrow a dream!”), make mysterious marks on their clipboards and sing the Nouveau Monde song with gusto.

But something else is going on around us and as we’re led further through the compound and the exercises get more bizarre it becomes increasingly obvious that something is very wrong with Nouveau Monde itself.

A lot of effort has gone into the look and feel of The Powerful Event, from the characters’ branded uniforms and props, to the extensive social media campaign (see the slick website http://nouveaumondeglobal.com/, complete with dozens of video testimonials), to the compound itself.

It’s also a very funny piece that asks us to question and mock the bizarre corporate rituals, as well as the language of the Christchurch rebuild, while making us complicit in them through our participation.

However, The Powerful Event feels like a work in progress or a proof of concept, although I don’t mean this in a negative way. There is a great deal of potential here but there are a number of areas where it needs to be fleshed out.

The first is the narrative. It is clear that there are story beats happening around us at certain points, especially when it becomes apparent that there is some broader conflict going on that the analysts are loosely encouraging us to ignore. But by the time we hit the piece’s climax, during a bizarre team building game in the courtyard of the compound, it’s uncertain what’s actually going on and what the implications and stakes are, over and above the fact that The Powerful Event is playing heavily on the idea that neoliberal corporate ideology is cultish.

The second is specificity. Logistically, this is a challenging piece and while the performances are all committed, there are lots of conceptual points that are introduced but not teased out to their full potential in and amongst the mayhem. At the outset we are asked what work, workers and community all are – highly relevant questions in post-quake Christchurch – but at the end there is not much advancement on this front, so the implied social and political commentary isn’t explored fully.  

Likewise, are we at a conference, an induction or a job interview? What happens to people when they fail the exercises? What is Nouveau Monde, exactly: corporation, person, monster, a front for something more sinister? (I was hoping for monster.)

As a concept, The Powerful Event is very strong, and the company (ha!) of performers creates sharp characters and a convincing sense of environment. As a finished piece, though, while I thoroughly enjoyed it, it needs further development. It is well worth seeing but as parts of it are outdoors, given the unseasonable pre-Christmas cold, you may want to take a coat.

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