A Few Little Drops: A Big Splash Outdoors
As I try to describe this show, I feel like one of the old nuns in the Sound of Music that sing, "How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?" They were talking Maria; I'm talking about water and the endeavour of a group of artists to make a show all about its "extraordinary life."
Imagine stepping into a dream world where people perform poetry in frog, bunny and horse heads, spout (and vomit) verse (and water) at you from high-up platforms, weep from chopped onions while singing in beautiful harmony, and frolic madly in militaristic uniform in a wading pool.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The field of Britannia Secondary School is transformed into a surreal site, where you stumble around in disbelief: into a beautiful walk-in inflatable wave, through a winding flood-wrecked house and alongside an outdoor waterscape. Wales' radical Volcano Theatre presents A Few Little Drops: The Extraordinary Life of Water and it's a wonderfully worthwhile walk on the wild side.
Describing this show is about as easy as grasping a handful of water. But that's what is being done here, metaphorically. A group of performers, video artists and sound designers have all responded to water in unique and striking ways. They structured their responses around Robert Minhinnick's words and Miranda Melville's extraordinary set design, which is a custom-made, gigantic blow-up wave. And it's no simple task to grasp the vastness of water - "what appears the most familiar and natural of substances is also one of the weirdest."
But this group of performers embraces the weirdness with wide-open arms. The troupe's seven actor/dancer/singers perform short vignettes either solo or in various, constantly-changing combinations which occur concurrently throughout the structure. You scramble to take it all in and keep up with the frenzy of fast-paced performances. They end abruptly, leaving you stunned, a bit disoriented and on the prowl for the next spectacle. All the while, you can hear the excitement in the next room and wonder as you watch "am I seeing the best show?"
All this happens in the drizzle of a chilly evening - the show occurs mostly outdoors - but this doesn't dampen the boisterous performances being delivered. You are encouraged to wonder as you please. At one point, two men improvise a piece called "ways of death" where they envision every possible way of dying from water. Their broad, lumbering physical comedy includes rolling in mud and shouting that something better is probably happening elsewhere. Another particularly poignant performance involves a bare-chested man submerging is head in a bucket of water until you feel desperate for him. When he comes up for air, a woman vigorously scrubs and whips his bare skin with a cloth while they repeatedly recite a poetic text.
This eclectic way of approaching "the world's most precious substance in new and exciting ways" gets us thinking and talking about it. And that's exactly what The Cultch had predicted. As the hosting venue they have put together a free Eco-Art & Science Symposium with this production. It focuses on human water use, climate change and the interaction between these environmental issues and the arts. Taking place all day on Saturday and Sunday, this creative collaboration of artists and scientists promises to add more conversation, more science and more opportunity for community discussions around these important issues. Information about the symposium can be found on The Cultch's website here.
And there's certainly a lot to talk about after seeing A Few Little Drops. Appropriately self-described as a "mind-bending and environmentally topical show," it's a lesson in chemistry, comedy and pushing the limits of perception. I feel appropriately pushed and all the better for it. But don't push it and wait to see this show - grasp it while you can. After six performances simultaneous to the symposium this the weekend, the inflatable wave will be packed up and shipped back to Wales. A Few Little Drops is both family-appropriate and perfectly suited to the avant-garde, site-specific work that is defining Vancouver's theatre.
Concept: Paul Davies and Fern Smith
Devised by: The Ensemble
Produced by: Katie Keeler
Words by: Robert Minhinnick
Design by: Miranda Melville
Video & Lighting Design by: Mark Parry
Sound by: Robbie Stamp
Cast:
Catherine Bennett
Paul Davies
Jeremy Killick
Trevor Sellers
Fern Smith
You-Ri Yamanaka
Liam Yeates