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"For quarter of a century Free Theatre has refined cultural
horizons and shaped Christchurch's perceptions of contemporary theatre"
- The Press, 21 May 2008 |
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"For quarter of a century Free Theatre has refined cultural
horizons and shaped Christchurch's perceptions of contemporary theatre"
- The Press, 21 May 2008 |
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A full page in the Dominion Post, 26 Aug 2010: 
Production HistoryScheduled for Wellington, 31 Aug - 11 Sept (No Sun/Mon), at Bats Theatre |
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Director |
Peter Falkenberg |
SYNOPSIS:
As the audience walk in, the performance has already begun. They are welcomed into a House of Illusions: the live music from a twin pianist and cellist is in full swing and the actors dance together on a small dance floor, centre of the stage. The performance (and the audience) are reflected back by large mirrors, and also on monitors, which show previously captured images from the town outside intercut with a live video feed from a roaming camera operator inside. The House of Illusion allows a potential for freedom from the outside world, but it is also constantly under surveillance.
Between tango dances and songs, the actors move to small dressing areas at the edge of the stage, and prepare for a series of performances, given for the audience and for each other:
A bishop hears the Confession of a young penitent, and gives absolution and penance. As the scene reaches its climax, it is interrupted: the Bishop is not a Bishop, but a client in a brothel;
A judge hears the testimony of a thief, who is consequently punished severely by an ominous masked figure;
A camp commandant trains his "horse" - a young woman who must be disciplined and properly put through her paces;
A woman sings soulfully in remembrance of times past;
The thief sings for the camp commandant, and in reward is given the head of her torturer in a box.
Throughout actors reflect on what is going on inside and outside the theatre, addressing the audience, blurring the lines between actor, character and spectator. The play ends as actors invite audience members to join them on the dance floor.
*****
Here's a word from the Director about the production:
"At base, Distraction Camp is a performative enquiry into the nature of acting through theatre, opera, film and other media. It takes inspiration from texts about acting such as Hamlet and Jean Genet's The Balcony , and incorporates texts, images and film pieces. As it sits conceptually in relation (not quite opposition) to the "concentration camp," Distraction Camp also draws on, and is responsive to, a number of Holocaust texts, films and images. Whereas the experience of the concentration camp was one of scarcity and hunger, the current experience of late capitalism is one of obesity and obscenity, which ironically can be seen to lead to the same effect. Forced endlessly to consume entertainments that revolve endlessly around distractions and commodities, audiences have become like the Muselman , resigned to a way of living without meaning, obese yet starved of real nourishment.
In The Theatre and its Double , Antonin Artaud says, "We are not free... And the theatre teaches us that first of all." Through the lens provided by the theatrical experience, Distraction Camp will explore the effects of late capitalism on the process of art-making and the function of art now. It will make a play on the nature of acting in art and in life, and ask freshly what audiences want from theatre and film. Genet says in The Balcony : "The devil is the great Actor." As with Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust and as with Gustav Gründgens in Fritsch's Chroma , the act of seduction is comparable to the act of performance, and the position of the audience as willing consumers and victims is questionable."
*****
Distraction Camp Trailer (HD video, 5 minutes)
Free form freak-out - Listener, 19 Dec 2009, reviewed by Faith Oxenbridge
LISTEN: Distraction Camp segment on Radio NZ, Arts on Sunday, 22 Nov 2009
DISTRACTION CAMP preview story - The Press, 27 November 2009
Then What is Freedom? - Theatreview, reviewed by Whetu Fala
Play hard work, but worth the effort - The Press, reviewed by Alan Scott
The Theatre as Counterpublic: From The Balcony to Distraction Camp - an essay on Distraction Camp by director Peter Falkenberg (PDF, 111kb)
