News of the World: A Public Forum That Just Happens to Happen in a Theatre

At the outset of *News of the World*, a clip from "Flight of the Conchords":http://www.conchords.co.nz/ plays. It is their song _Issues (Think About It)_. It sets the tone for what presumably will be a funny irreverent take on the issues of the world and the news that delivers it to us.

The press release calls it to be topical, in your face and funny. Well it certainly could be all those things had it not been for the over reliance on who shows up in the audience.

You see, *News of World*, produced by "Felix Culpa":http://www.felixculpa.bc.ca/ is not really a theatrical production; it's more a public forum on particular topics that had been pre-selected before the show was created (in just ten days). It just happens to take place inside a theatre with actors as the moderators. The tag line for the show is "Fully wired. Fully interactive. It's all About You." It sure was all about us. They bring up a member of the audience to step in for Charlie Smith, Editor of the Georgia Straight, to answer questions about the media. We are given conflicting stories from the three actors (David Bloom, Alex Ferguson and Tricia Collins) about why they couldn't get the real Charlie Smith or if they really even tried to get Smith in the first place. I get that they were trying to mirror the conflicts of various news stories that we are given, but it all ends up really muddled and confusing for the audience or should I say forum members. For one, I was kind of convinced that the audience member they brought up to be Smith was actually a planted actor. It kind of kept me in waiting for that one thing that would piece it all together.

At the beginning of the night we were given questionnaires about our views on the media and our fears about what's in the news. I kept waiting for some grand revelation to be presented back to us from those questionnaires but it never materialized. Instead, for the most part, things kind of turned into a public discussion on a few stories or non-stories in the news. One girl, who they filmed before hand and then followed up with during the show, was very concerned about the damming of the Peace River. It was pretty informative but once that was done that was that; the performers kind of stumbled into whatever they had planned next. It didn't seem very cohesive and the performers seemed unsure of themselves. There were preplanned comedic interludes that that were either hit or miss. The hit was Bloom's foray into another theme question “what is the societal impact of thousands of people living alternate, virtual lives on the internet?" He took his concerns about the fate of phytoplankton in the oceans with him into the online game Second Life (that we were able to watch real time on a big screen) as he fucked a guy from behind on Sex Beach. Weird and ridiculous and funny because of it, but really only peaked my interest into how the game Second Life actually works.

Another themed question they dove into was "what is an effective methodology for filtering the news and how can this be applied?" The Peace River Dam Girl then piped up to list off a few websites she goes to, then an audience member retorted by saying "so you (filter the news) by going to a variety of left wing websites." Oh no! Now we have audience members fighting, but wait that was the same guy they brought up to be Charlie Smith. Is he an actor? Will he be the key to tie everything together? The answer is yes and no. *News of the World* sets out to discuss news in response to public demand because that's how the real media works. Having the audience members talk and dictate the pace of the show is the show – well, forum. For me, I guess if you really want to say something about the media and its effects on the public in order to change our patterns of behaviour in responding to issues in the local community and the world, you really need to inspire, especially in a theatrical setting. As artists we are set apart from politicians and the media because of our ability to enlighten as well as inspire.

_News of the World, produced by Felix Culpa, written by David Bloom, Alex Lazaridis Ferguson and Marcus Youssef; performed by Tricia Collins, Bloom and Ferguson; Robin Greenwood, Visual Designer; Itai Erdal, Lighting Designer; Gavin Kade Somers, Stage Manager; Andreas Kahre, Consultant. It took place at VIVO Media Arts in Vancouver and by tuning in "here":http://www.felixculpa.bc.ca/, you can find more information._