Heightened Senses

Using ordinary objects to create a story with characters, object theatre is one of the most entertaining, interesting and rewarding styles of stage performance in the theatre realm. Instead of objects and/or puppets specifically designed for the narrative, object theatre deliberately uses everyday objects, either as is or transformed into other things, requiring the skill of the performer and the imagination of the audience for its success. 

Godot Art Association Manager Pinky Chan says Panic is the archetypal object theatre show, relying on a large deal of audience engagement in order for the show’s subliminal messages to be transmitted. “We have a big interest in object theatre, so we try to use different object to complete the show – we love the many possibilities of imagination,” Chan explains. “We only use the toilet paper for all props during the whole show; we have to make sure the movement is clear enough for the audience to imagine what was the image of the toilet paper. We really enjoy the process of creating those images.”

Panic is a dramatization of a short story of the same name written by Japanese novelist Kōbō Abe, one-time candidate laureate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Panic is an allegorical, microcosmic story of an unemployed man in the economy-oriented world that surrounds him.

“The stage is empty and actors tell the story with their physical expressions – the number of toilet paper rolls used as the only prop in the show represents a symbolic icon associating with the negative part of today’s mass consumption society,” Chan says. “In an empty space, with actors’ bodies and their physical expressions, the story unfolds at a rollercoaster-like speed.”

Having won Best Show, Best Direction, and Best Audience at the 2013 Sengawa Theater Contest with Panic, Chan is excited to bring the show to Melbourne Fringe and hopes audiences will enjoy the show as much as audiences back home in Japan. “We’ve joined Edinburgh Fringe and Avignon Fringe before and we decided to come to Fringe 2014 because we want to let our show be performed overseas. We hope to communicate with different great artists who come from different countries.”

Panic
23 Sep — 28 Sep, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Revolt 3