KISMET: sticks with you despite its flaws
The Chop Theatre's KISMET one to one hundred (currently on as part of the Tremors Festival) embodies the essence of collective creation. Four artists (Anita Rochon, Emelia Symington Fedy, Daryl King, and Hazel Venzon) set out on a journey across Canada. Their goal was to interview one hundred people from the ages of one through one hundred on the subject of fate and destiny. Predictably, although their list of questions is fairly simple and straight forward, the responses they gathered were as varied and idiosyncratic as the people they interviewed. They recorded their separate journeys (Fedy and Venzon drove through B.C. while King hitchhiked to Toronto) and KISMET is the final result.
The stories are told with the aid of various forms of media, while Rochon provides a guitar-based soundscape. Pictures and video are displayed via laptop as well as various projection screens. However, the most common media feature is the frequently used recorded interview. KISMET is surprisingly engrossing considering that a large portion of the production consists of listening to recorded material. The performers break up these interview segments by casually impersonating some of the interviewees. Here the actors play things fairly straight. They take on a subtle character trait or vocal nuance to hint at the notion of a character as opposed to doing a full on impersonation. It's a watered down version of Anna Deavere Smith and it works. Unfortunately, it's not as effective as listening to the actual people. It would seem that the idea is to break up the monotony of listening to the recordings, by having actors perform instead and allow KISMET to justify itself as theatre. In fact less performing would have made for a stronger show as hearing the real words of the interviewees is extremely moving and powerful.
As KISMET moves along we revisit various characters and interviews and the actors share their experiences. They take turns telling their stories of awkward interviews, life on the road, the perils of hitchhiking, and all the people they met along the way. This is where KISMET shines - storytelling. There's an old theatre maxim "Show. Don't tell." but in this production the opposite is true. As we learn snippets of the actor's personal lives and share some of their (mis)adventures they become more endearing and we truly begin to care what they have to say. The strongest parts of KISMET, and there are quite a few, are the simplest: an actor telling a story, supported by a simple projection or photograph.
The basic set serves the show well. Although, I could have done without the rear wall onto which a hundred white balls were constantly rearranged throughout the show. The cast used this feature to make abstract shapes and images, the creation of which were distracting and unnecessary. However, KISMET's biggest flaw is it's pace. At 85 minutes it's about 15 minutes too long. This is compounded by a repetitive finale that begins as heart-warming and ends up dragging on for twice as long as it needs to. In fact this whole sequence would have probably been better served as an introduction. Ending a show with a drawn out list is never a good idea and, combined with it's deliberately slow transitions, the last third of the show really lags. It seems the laid back nature of their road trip influenced the final product.
The level of audience participation is refreshing as we are constantly being engaged in direct addresses, to ask questions, and to vote via clapping or a show of hands. These elements are the most fun and one chooses-your-own-adventure portion of the show almost makes me want to see KISMET three times just to see all the possible outcomes. It's these kind of dynamic yet simple ideas that make KISMET an engaging, and unique, if flawed piece. In fact, by the very end I was so moved by the experience as a whole that I dodged the hubbub of the opening night reception that followed the show in favour of some quiet introspection.
Kismet one to one hundred continues until April 17 as part of the Tremors Festival. For more information roadtrip here