Red Machine Part One

I'll admit that I initially balked at the premise behind The Room’s newest project; *Red Machine: Part One* boasted a collaborative effort from seven playwrights and three directors, working together in a sectional tribute to the human brain.

In this first of the trilogy they set forth to pay homage to the hippocampus, the primary motor cortex and the temporal lobe through a series of interpretive but interlocking vignettes.

The common thread through each portion is Hugo, an author suffering from writer’s block (as well as periodic seizures). He wanders through a seedy hotel, encountering a series of bizarre characters as he goes: the doddering yet insightful magician, a Jesus-obsessed woman whose body acts of its own accord, and a mercurial, sensual muse. At times the performance comes across as disjointed - understandably so given the ensemble effort – but for the most part everything folds nicely into the darkly surreal atmosphere of Hugo’s internal journey.

Red Machine Part One is part of this year's Toronto Fringe Festival and continues until July 12th. For more information you could go mental "here":http://www.fringetoronto.com/fringe09/indoorBYOV_listings.html#R or you could risk losing your mind "here":http://thisistheroom.com/