ANIMAL HOUR
10th- 14th July to Wellington Performing Arts Centre
Reworked and restaged as part of Elimination Rounds in 2010
Performers: Fiona McNamara, Simon Haren, Ralph Upton, Rose Guise, Gareth Hobbs, Stephanie Cairns, Jake Baxendale
Directed by Joel Baxendale, produced by Claire O'Loughlin
A mercurial, sadistic Dominic Bowden-type host puts three naïve “contestants” through a series of increasingly difficult and demeaning tasks in the name of live reality theatre, while competing for alpha-male dominance with a staunch live band (dressed in animal costumes, also doubling as the judging panel). As the competition wears on, the challenges get more bizarre, the logic looser, and the rules more arbitrary. The structure is a collage, weaving together confessional spoken text, dance, music, and task-driven actions into a surprising but patterned whole.
Director's Note (from the program)
Can we prove we're more than just animals? This is the question that grew out of a general fascination and appreciation of the colourful fauna with whom we share this earth. The longer we poked, probed and attacked this probelm, the more worried I became. It was increasingly apparent that not only a show, but our whole reason for being was at stake. Are we here merely to eat, sleep, mate, repeat? Animal Hour is here to find new answers to the questions that plague humanity's fragile opinon of itself. However ridiculous, unfounded or twisted they are, they will surely be an improvement on the untterly unsatisfactory answers provided by the so called "sciences." And so, armed with an awareness of our animal nature, we set out to transcend it. Or embrace it.
-Joel
Thomas LaHood (theatreview) said "this is the kind of underground theatre that is at once the fount, the boundary and the acid test for the health of the wider arts community is lurks beneath. It's a good buzz. If you want some reassurance that theatre is a alive in Wellington, catch it while you can."
Uther Dean, in Salient,said that Binge is "steadfastly on their way to becoming one of the defining voices of the young Wellington theatre."
Animal Hour was strongly supported by the VUW Theatre Programme, with funding from Creative Communities.
Poster photo courtesy of Sarah Everard
Reworked and restaged as part of Elimination Rounds in 2010
Performers: Fiona McNamara, Simon Haren, Ralph Upton, Rose Guise, Gareth Hobbs, Stephanie Cairns, Jake Baxendale
Directed by Joel Baxendale, produced by Claire O'Loughlin
A mercurial, sadistic Dominic Bowden-type host puts three naïve “contestants” through a series of increasingly difficult and demeaning tasks in the name of live reality theatre, while competing for alpha-male dominance with a staunch live band (dressed in animal costumes, also doubling as the judging panel). As the competition wears on, the challenges get more bizarre, the logic looser, and the rules more arbitrary. The structure is a collage, weaving together confessional spoken text, dance, music, and task-driven actions into a surprising but patterned whole.
Director's Note (from the program)
Can we prove we're more than just animals? This is the question that grew out of a general fascination and appreciation of the colourful fauna with whom we share this earth. The longer we poked, probed and attacked this probelm, the more worried I became. It was increasingly apparent that not only a show, but our whole reason for being was at stake. Are we here merely to eat, sleep, mate, repeat? Animal Hour is here to find new answers to the questions that plague humanity's fragile opinon of itself. However ridiculous, unfounded or twisted they are, they will surely be an improvement on the untterly unsatisfactory answers provided by the so called "sciences." And so, armed with an awareness of our animal nature, we set out to transcend it. Or embrace it.
-Joel
Uther Dean, in Salient,said that Binge is "steadfastly on their way to becoming one of the defining voices of the young Wellington theatre."
