THE PROTEST
BATS Theatre, The Random Stage, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
24/10/2018 - 24/10/2018
Production Details
Fight the power! This is an improvised political protest, with songs, chants, signs and scenes inspired by a conversation about the day’s issues. Experience scenes that show the lives of the protestors and the impact of the issues on them. Instant songs, chants and slogans will bring the defiance to life!
Directed by Stephen Davidson and performed by an ensemble cast from across NZIF 2018.
Stephen Davidson (United Kingdom) loves improv and is one of the world’s most cheerful people when playing or teaching. Stephen likes his improv like he likes his partners: silly, clever, and emotionally connected. Stephen is the Artistic Director of Improvable, QI: Queer Improv, Carmen: A gender-swapped Film Noir Fantasy, and co-director of Zeal: The Pride Improv Festival. He currently also plays with The Verbs, a musical team, and in duo The Happiest People in the World.
The Random Stage at BATS Theatre, 1 Kent Terrace, Wellington
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
6:30 pm
Tix $14-20 – Book Now!
Theatre , Improv ,
1 hr
Strongly real and surreal
Review by George Fenn 25th Oct 2018
Asked for a political issue ranking 4 on the big issue scale, an audience member loudly laments the plague of “Unwanted upgrades”.
Players present heightened versions of themselves protesting this contentious issue. The grounded banter that occurs here serves as a generator for tangentially related scenes. Having this recurring base reality allows the show to cover a wide range of content both comically and dramatically.
It scales from Robot Soccer to a deeply sincere online relationship which explores the self-image issues of a scarred accident survivor. This simultaneously shows the strength of the performers and the format to be able to play in both the surreal and real worlds.
I would be eager to see what The Protest would look like exploring a more politically charged issue. From talking with the cast after the show I learn they do a blind vote on the scale 1-10 of how serious an issue they feel they can support. For the Festival, with performers playing together only after a single workshop, I commend this direction from Director, Stephan Davidson (London) which errs on the side of creating a safer performance environment.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
Comments