BLAM!
Civic Theatre, cnr of Queen Street & Wellesley Street West, Auckland
06/03/2015 - 10/03/2015
Production Details
Die Hard meets The Office in BLAM! coming to Auckland Arts Festival 2015 from 6 – 10 March, at The Civic.
BLAM! is the wordless story of three under-paid, over-worked and ‘over it’ office workers, wasting their lives away in the world’s saddest workplace under the hawkeyed supervision of their border-sociopathic boss.
As a refuge from this humdrum hell, the workers let their vivid imaginations run wild. Whenever the boss looks the other way – they BLAM! –transforming their surroundings into a world populated by aliens, superheroes and classic blockbuster movie villains.
Suddenly, it’s an office gone mad, in a world taken over by ordinary guys performing extraordinary feats.
To the boom of AC/DC and Black Sabbath, the likes of Predator, Wolverine, the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man stalk the stage armed with office staplers , hole punches and post-it-notes.
Winner of the prestigious 2012 Danish Theatre Award Reumert, and the breakout hit of the 2013 Edinburgh Festival, BLAM! has stunned audiences worldwide with its mix of physical theatre, parkour, circus and deadpan humour that will have audiences doubled over in their seats.
The ideal entertainment for fathers and sons, good mates, and physical types who can’t sit still, BLAM! is the brainchild of acclaimed Icelandic visual theatre artist Kristjan Ingimarsson, who founded physical theatre company Neander in Copenhagen in 1998. In a recent interview he revealed that The Office creator, Ricky Gervais, had seen BLAM! and asked if he could join the show.
“One of the wildest experiences, I have had in a long time. A party bomb of a show that slowly detonates into an orgy of insanity” – Politiken, Denmark
“Funny, wildly dangerous and irresistible” – Financial Times, UK
*Highly stylised slapstick violence, mild strobe lighting.
With support from AUCKLAND LIVE
SEASON DETAILS
BLAM!
The Civic
Friday 6 March, 7.00pm;
Saturday 7 March, 7.30pm;
Sunday 8 March – Tuesday 10 March, 6.30 pm
Price: Premium$65.00 | Premium Friend/Conc/Group$59.00 | A Res $58.00 | Friend/Conc/Group $53.00
A Res Child $40.00 | B Res $48.00 | B Res Friend/Conc/Group $43.00 | B Res Child $25.00 | C Res $35.00 | C Res Child $15.00
Book at Ticketmaster outlets: www.ticketmaster.co.nz/
P: 09 970 9700 or 0800 111 999
Video http://blamtheshow.co/video
Theatre , Physical , Comedy ,
Marvel at how the mundane can become fantastic
Review by Vanessa Byrnes 07th Mar 2015
BLAM! is a boys’-own adventure story set in one very bland office and sure to be a hit of the Auckland Arts Festival. This show is an ideal evening out for teenage boys and their dads, although my companion and I also enjoy the physical bravery of the work as much as its silliness.
The show is more than 15 minutes late starting, which puts an odd flavor in the Civic space. This audience is keen to get going.
BLAM! kicks off with quiet serenity; a counterpoint to the chaos that’s about to ensue. It has ingenious creativity supporting a simple premise; three bored office workers and one horrible boss are stuck in their beige office for another day. What the trio initially does behind the sneering boss’s back becomes the main order of business for the day.
Staplers become nunchucks, filing trays become superhero weapons and an umbrella stand quickly finds use as an automatic weapon. The ingenuity becomes more extreme. Even the manager and a water cooler join in. Out-doing each other’s antics to become ‘top guy’ is the driver. Slightly masochistic and totally wild, it’s hilarious to watch.
The foursome dabble with kung fu, parkour, acrobatics and stunts that surpass expectations. One minute it’s Rambo; the next, Tarantino. WWF features, as do ballet, trapeze, aliens, and superheroes including The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, The Matrix, and others.
(Spoiler alert) A surprise with the set that splits and tilts on its side – and then hangs 90 degrees before being busted through – challenges where the physical stunts can go to. (ends) Things get really interesting when our perspective is altered and the actors have to navigate this landscape with suspension and gravity-challenging feats.
Ultimately we’re left with office carnage and four men who have some stupendously good work stories.
This is all performed without spoken dialogue and with a full-on sound/music scape, and it’s in the particularity of the acting that I find the most skill. Every intention is clear cut and there are some hilarious character choices that drive the physical daring. It’s entertaining and highly skilled.
BLAM! Is an ideal introduction to theatre for young and old, and an example of how a simple premise can be so strong. Go and see it to marvel at how the mundane can be transformed into the fantastic.
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