THISISPOPBABY have quickly become one of Ireland’s leading young theatre companies, carving a well-respected name for themselves in the Irish theatrical circle. After their infamous electro-pop musical Alice in Funderland, which had a successful run in the Abbey Theatre earlier this year, their newest piece Elevator, directed by Wayne Jordan and written by Philip McMahon, is unsurprisingly one of the most highly anticipated productions in this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. Set in a land of excess where everything is available, we are asked the question “Just when is enough, enough?”
Dressed in beautifully chic eveningwear, six attractive young people, along with the housemaid, gather for a party in a swish mansion in the woods of an unknown country. The glossy floor and appropriately large white leather couch are instant indicators that we are entering into an environment of wealth and affluence.
Almost immediately, a party begins and we are brought on a tumultuous journey of self-loss and mindlessness. In a dreamlike montage of sexual-mingling and drug-snorting oblivion, THISISPOPBABY drag us from reality into a sphere of no consequence, where nothing really makes sense, but where nothing needs to make sense. Alma Kelliher’s haunting soundtrack powerfully evokes a sense of other-worldliness with its almost hallucinogenic quality. Other aesthetics, such as the long white neon lights flashing behind the black screen and the animal masks prod the production in the direction of a warped fairytale, not unlike the atmosphere created in Alice in Funderland.
While Elevator is visually stimulating and probes its audience to enter the unbalanced headspace of the party guests, it is somewhat disappointing that we are rarely given the opportunity to engage or empathize with the characters in a more real or tangible way. There is hope initially perhaps that relationships may form or friendships may blossom at this party, allowing us to engage with these characters as real people. Their fickleness, however, soon seeps through, making it difficult to relate or empathize with them in any way. Moments of intimacy or affection never seem to satisfy for too long. This results in each character’s incessant need for a new sexual partner, thus creating the sense that all human relationships in their world are empty and meaningless. Our inability to truly relate to these empty vessels on stage somewhat desensitizes us, making us indifferent to their increasing decline into the realm of self-destruction. Nevertheless, McMahon’s text is at times rich and beautiful, exposing some of the character’s vulnerabilities, through the short anecdotes, delivered delicately by the talented cast. The scarcity of these moments however, makes us crave a deeper level of insight and understanding, which we unfortunately never do.
While the actions on stage are executed with the intent of exposing the extremity of these seven characters, the repetitive drug-use and sexual gratification soon becomes somewhat predictable, thus losing its overall effect. Disappointingly, there is no defining moment where the beautiful characters on stage must return to reality and face the consequences that come with being human. Instead the piece ends with another line of coke, commencing the illusory party once more.
While Elevator is an entertaining and stylish piece of theatre, it is not a production that will reverberate in my mind for months to come. Saying that, THISISPOPBABY certainly capture the loss of meaning and the inescapable hollowness within this bubble of excess, answering the original question of “What happens in a world where everything is available, yet nothing ever satisfies?”, and perhaps, that is enough.
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