Dedicated to the Revolutions: Theatre Meets Cliffs Notes
“Is this how artists think of science?” remarked my scientist roommate as we exited the mixed-media show *Dedicated to the Revolutions* by "Small Wooden Shoe":http://www.smallwoodenshoe.org/index.html, “as a series of convenient metaphors to explain life?" The production was founded upon the ambitious manifesto of understanding the effect of scientific progress on our world, and I'd asked my roommate along to contribute his expertise in the field.
Existing in a state of aggressive obliviousness regarding all things science myself, I’d thought a more seasoned perspective might help to interpret this science-based show. Ultimately my anxiety proved baseless; the performers opened the show by proudly announcing they had no scientific background at all – but that wasn’t going to stop them. What followed was an eccentric tour through the seven scientific revolutions that, according to director Jacob Zimmer’s eighth grade science teacher, changed the world: Gutenberg, Copernican, Newtonian, Industrial, Darwinian, Nuclear and Information.
Along with five other performers dressed in the styling of grade school teachers, Zimmer proceeded to use any means at his disposal to explain concepts from the Theory of Relativity to Cold War politics. And I do mean ‘any’; the stage was filled with beach balls, skipping ropes, dot matrix printers, tennis rackets and more dry-erase whiteboards than a college dorm. Mediums to convey their interpreted scientific theories included hurriedly-sketched diagrams, audience Q&A, an intense game of Jenga and songs that were more hauntingly beautiful than they had any right to be; I’ve had the closing number detailing Newton’s Laws of Motion stuck in my head since curtain.
The tongue-in-cheek gravity with which the ensemble moved through the performance made it nigh impossible to tell how much was scripted and how much was improvised, giving the entire show the air of a hastily written high school class presentation. At times the comfortable pacing became a little too relaxed; the audience watched patiently as the end of the world was calculated through long division, or the internet was visualized through an intricate three-dimensional web of coloured wires and tin cans. For some reason the performers seemed to be making a concerted effort to restrain their energy, even though they truly shined when they gave it voice; a particular high point was an animated (and illustrated) discussion on natural vs. sexual selection between Evan Webber and Frank Cox-O’Connell that gave free reign to their enthusiasm.
Zimmer has crafted a hybrid medium somewhere between a theatre piece and a lecture. The project stemmed from a series of individual works dedicated to the separate revolutions staged over the past few years for festivals such as Rhubarb! and Fringe Festival. The collaborative nature was evident in the rotating manner in which ensemble members tackled different topics, expounding on personal research, deductions and misunderstandings in their journey to piece together their tribute.
After the show I marveled at the creativity of the show while professing to only having understood a portion of the actual science, while my science-minded guest goggled at the considerable poetic license taken with hard – and to him, straightforward – scientific concepts. Of course, his efforts to clarify the areas on which I was vague were in vain, proving that some of us certainly benefit from more inventive avenues of explanation such as we’d just experienced. And even if I hadn’t fully grasped the notion of industrial progress as illustrated by a game of Double Dutch, I certainly enjoyed it.
*Dedicated to the Revolutions* proved to be a science lesson for arts students, by arts students, as observed by my bemused roommate. The ensemble unapologetically interpreted science through the most comfortable means available to them: metaphor. The results ranged from profound to frustrating, at times offering interesting new perspectives while others completely failed to address the actual subject in a florid, circuitous manner. I wouldn’t rely on Small Wooden Shoe to get you through an upcoming science exam, but I do applaud them for exploring how theatre can transgress beyond conventional borders and be applied to unexpected subjects.
_Dedicated to the Revolutions, produced by Small Wooden Shoe with assistance from One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo and in association with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre; Conceived by Jacob Zimmer; Co-directed by Jacob Zimmer and Ame Henderson; Created with and performed by Frank Cox-O’Connell, Chad Dembski, Aimée Dawn Robinson, Erin Shields, Evan Webber and Jacob Zimmer; Produced by Erika Hennebury; Designed by Trevor Schwellnus. Playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre from March 31 – April 12, for more information go_ "here":http://www.smallwoodenshoe.org/index.html.