Will we be eliminated?
Binge Culture Collective’s latest production Elimination Rounds questions the future of Generation Y.
Not completely satisfied with two of their successful productions, the collective has combined them to create Elimination Rounds, a satirical piece on Generation Y.
The BATS Theatre show is the spawn of last year’s Drowning Bird Plummeting Fish set at an end of the world after party, and the more recent Animal Hour, which questions how different we really are from animals.
“Elimination Rounds is an acknowledgement that the two have a lot in common, and they both had more potential,” says Binge Culture member Joel Baxendale.
The latest production is also a celebration of the two years the group has worked together.
“We’ve been away from the two shows for a year, so it’s like coming back to a rumpus room of toys you haven’t visited for a while,” says member Ralph Upton.
Elimination Rounds looks at some of the bizarre “normal” activities Generation Y engages in.
“There’s a part where we are in a literal Facebook and a person is holding up signs saying how they feel (on Facebook people regularly update their “status” to tell the world how they feel). There’s something delightfully funny about that,” says Upton.
The production also questions the normality of events such as the Sevens Rugby, and characters who may have escaped from a Sevens parade bowl onto the stage.
“We spent a whole rehearsal sharing drunken stories from the Sevens. It’s an outlet to do what you like, because you’re drunk and you don’t have to apologise for it. That’s not far removed from how we live sometimes,” says Upton.
All of Binge Culture’s productions involve audience in the action, challenging them to ask questions.
The structure of their 2010 “Best Outdoor” Fringe Winner, Storytime for the Hungry for example, was solely driven by the audience.
“The only set criteria for us was to make porridge for the audience over an open fire, feed it to them, and tell them a story,” laughs another group member, Simon Haren. “We don’t play characters, we play ourselves, tell truths and see how far we can go with them. We embrace that discomfort.”
The group is unapologetic if they leave an audience unhappy.
“There’s no catharsis at the end of our shows. There’s no point in resolving something for the audience because they then leave with nothing. If you give people answers, then the solutions don’t come,” says Baxendale.
Positive reviews the shows have received echo this sentiment. One says, “If this is our immediate future, I want no part of this. Yet this is unmissable theatre.”
Elimination Rounds, BATS Theatre, March 30 – April 1.
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