Merlin Theatre Malthouse until May 24, 1997
Reviewed by Kate Herbert around May 9, 1997
We are NYID!"
sounds like Hitler Youth but it is the chant of the impeccably well-drilled
squad of nine actors which is Not Yet It's Difficult.
Not only the company name is tinged with irony. Director
David Pledger's latest production is entitled "The Austral-Asian
Post-Cartoon Sports Edition". It is a scrapbook of physical-visual images
of Australian sport and not all is heroic songs of praise.
This company has more muscle per square inch than the AFL
and performers run for a gruelling 90 minutes that requires constant vigilance
and engagement from audience.
In the cavernous, emptied Merlin Theatre, we at first peered
through the cyclone wire at performers on gym equipment while a live
interviewer roamed the crowd like a likeable version of Sam Newman and audience
members appeared simultaneously on a huge, Big Brother-like screen.
The likeness to Orwellian propaganda continued as soccer
bouncers herded us inside the arena to shift locations as the action raced
throughout the "stadium". It's unnerving but that's intentional.
NYID both celebrates and challenges the representation of
sports. The raving "coach" siks his athletes onto a player who
"does not belong". The fact that he's Vietnamese makes their violence
profoundly distressing.
The actors/athletes tell personal stories. "Because I
did gymnastics my dad thought I was - delicate". "Sculpted near-naked
bodies are scrawled with price-tags while Voice- Overs discuss the unfemininity
of muscles, the status of women's sports and men's huge sponsorships. The
medium is the message here.
The style of NYID in the last three shows has a pattern but
is not yet tiresome. Dramaturg, Peter Eckersall, has developed a brisk, ironic
word games and uses the richness in minimal, repetitive language, semantics and
definitions. "Sport: noun, verb, adverb", "Hit him Mark. Hit him Mark. Whack him
son!" Most are chanted in unison like a pack of one-eyed supporters.
It is the "one-eyedness" which remains with me.
The dreadful potential for chauvinism of all sorts that is inbuilt in any
divisive competitive arena, be it sport, politics or race. NYID is a very
astute company. If your idea of theatre is sitting comfortably in the dark
watching a good yarn then this is not for you but take a punt on a skilfully
executed and diverting piece of contemporary theatre. As they would say,
"And Go!"
Kate Herbert
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The Austral-Asian
Post-Cartoon Sports Edition
By Not Yet It's
Difficult
Merlin Theatre Malthouse until May 24, 1997
We are NYID!"
sounds like Hitler Youth but it is the chant of the impeccably well-drilled
squad of nine actors which is Not Yet It's Difficult.
Not only the company name is tinged with irony. Director
David Pledger's latest production is entitled "The Austral-Asian
Post-Cartoon Sports Edition". It is a scrapbook of physical-visual images
of Australian sport and not all is heroic songs of praise.
This company has more muscle per square inch than the AFL
and performers run for a gruelling 90 minutes that requires constant vigilance
and engagement from audience.
In the cavernous, emptied Merlin Theatre, we at first peered
through the cyclone wire at performers on gym equipment while a live
interviewer roamed the crowd like a likeable version of Sam Newman and audience
members appeared simultaneously on a huge, Big Brother-like screen.
The likeness to Orwellian propaganda continued as soccer
bouncers herded us inside the arena to shift locations as the action raced
throughout the "stadium". It's unnerving but that's intentional.
NYID both celebrates and challenges the representation of
sports. The raving "coach" siks his athletes onto a player who
"does not belong". The fact that he's Vietnamese makes their violence
profoundly distressing.
The actors/athletes tell personal stories. "Because I
did gymnastics my dad thought I was - delicate". "Sculpted near-naked
bodies are scrawled with price-tags while Voice- Overs discuss the unfemininity
of muscles, the status of women's sports and men's huge sponsorships. The
medium is the message here.
The style of NYID in the last three shows has a pattern but
is not yet tiresome. Dramaturg, Peter Eckersall, has developed a brisk, ironic
word games and uses the richness in minimal, repetitive language, semantics and
definitions. "Sport: noun, verb, adverb", "Hit him Mark. Hit him Mark. Whack him
son!" Most are chanted in unison like a pack of one-eyed supporters.
It is the "one-eyedness" which remains with me.
The dreadful potential for chauvinism of all sorts that is inbuilt in any
divisive competitive arena, be it sport, politics or race. NYID is a very
astute company. If your idea of theatre is sitting comfortably in the dark
watching a good yarn then this is not for you but take a punt on a skilfully
executed and diverting piece of contemporary theatre. As they would say,
"And Go!"
Kate Herbert
È
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*[1]@ˇÒˇ˜
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˜The Austral-Asian Post-Cartoon Sports Editionˇ
˜ by Not Yet It's Difficult. Merlin Theatre Malthouse until May 24
ıˆ"We are NYID!" sounds like Hitler Youth but it
is the chant of the impeccably well-drilled squad of nine actors which is Not
Yet It's Difficult.
Not only the company name is tinged with irony. Director
David Pledger's latest production is
entitled "The Austral-Asian Post-Cartoon Sports Edition". It is a
scrapbook of physical-visual images of Australian sport and not all is heroic songs of praise.
This company has more muscle per square inch than the AFL and
performers run for a gruelling 90 minutes which requires constant vigilance and
engagement from audience.
In the cavernous, emptied Merlin Theatre, we at first peered
through the cyclone wire at performers on gym equipment while a live
interviewer roamed the crowd like a likeable version of Sam Newman and audience
members appeared simultaneously on a huge, Big Brother-like screen.
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