The “Performance in Which Hopefully Nothing Happens” at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts last weekend was a real treat for children and grown-ups alike. In times where the Wii and other video games have taken over our children’s leisure time, it is so important to have their minds and imagination stimulated with something more creative.
That’s exactly what Theatergroep MAX from the Netherlands did. Inventive, absurd and fantastic at times, “Performance in Which Hopefully Nothing Happens” was great modern theater that played with the audience’s minds, made it laugh over clever absurd funny scenes while playfully demonstrating what a performance actually consists of!
The actors brilliantly incorporated elements of Pantomime and Comedy and with a witty play of words kept the audience engaged. Their scene of having the various parts of a performance appear as different people, from the ‘previous moment’ person to the ‘next moment’ guy and the ‘dead moment’ was hilarious, with the interview of the ‘little detail’ being the absolute highlight. Comicly funny the ‘little detail’ was being interviewed with a microphone, but all the audience could really see was the actor Roger holding the microphone pointed towards a little round spot that was illuminated by his flashlight. That’s where the little detail supposedly was on stage and spoke, but it was just too small for the audience to see with bare eyes…The children were bursting in laughter. The audience loved it.
Playing with the audience’s mind and making illusion reality was at its best, when one actor suddenly seemed to play hide and seek with his alter ego, and in the end after desperately trying to find himself, suggested, that he must have lost himself.
By inviting Theatergroep MAX from the Netherlands, Segerstrom Center for the Arts has put on an excellent show making sure that theater goers of the next generation are trained to watch something more challenging than only mainstream theatre. Too bad that this award winnig show was available for the general public only for two days. I will for sure be on the look out for their next performance in the coming season.
“Performance in Which Hopefully Nothing Happens” -A real treat for eyes, ears and mind!
More to read:
Daily Pilot: http://articles.dailypilot.com/2011-05-12/news/tn-dpt-0513-happs-20110512_1_theater-group-silliness-godot
http://dutchperformingartsevents.blogspot.com/2011/04/ipay-dutch-youth-theater-consortium_21.html
http://www.nashvilleparent.com/theater-reviews/tpacs-family-field-trip-is-a-hoot-saturday-may-7