The Trepidation of the Tower Traipsing Troglodytes leaves us speechless.
The audience is led into a small room, seating only approximately 20 people, filled with chaos in the form of cardboard boxes, cut-out figures, mini cheese, sweets and mini toy hands. It feels as if we have been invited to a party. A large screen looms over the performance space.
The show starts and ends with a ‘bang’. It was created by the co-founders of Australian theatre company Theatre Bang Bang. Hannah Pascoe and Katie Rose Spence star in the bold and risk-taking performance. Not only extremely entertaining and comedic, it also explores a topic relevant to the entire Western world: the internet.
Both characters struggle to socially connect due to the internet’s power and therefore take on a different form of communication. Their Chaplin-esque female clowns, however, become easily distracted by the looming screen. The clowning itself may be a metaphor for what life has become in the 21st Century: a farce in which people cannot retain their concentration levels to more than the average 7-second Vine Video or 10-second SnapChat story.
Communication and audience interaction is key in this show, however, at times the actors may have invaded the audience’s personal space a little too much, something that might make some people feel extremely uncomfortable.
This does not dampen the overall performance and the audience is engaged throughout and willing to play, take selfies and have a laugh with Pascoe and Spence who give outstanding, comedic and highly energetic performances – they come very close to Chaplin himself.
The screen itself is like a third character showing funny cat videos, Oprah, workout films and a remix of Jeff Goldblum’s laugh from the Jurassic Park movie which leaves the audience in stitches.
This is a clever concept and explores such a relevant and much talked about topic in a new and experimental way, highlighting how wonderful the internet can be but how incredibly destructive it can also be. It further highlights an interesting point of how well people all around the world are connected more then ever before but also how disconnected we all are on a human level.
Til 31 August, 7.30pm