|
QUACK! | |
|
From The Hip
A man lies in a hospital bed, frail and dying. In his weakness and delirium, and despite the helpless attentions of a gaggle of nurses, he is beset with visions. Dreaming himself away to a parallel universe, he refashions himself as a man on a mission, travelling the land sermonising and preaching to the poor and unfortunate his message of hope for the future, a righting of wrongs, and a promise of dreams fulfilled. Aiding him is his long-suffering partner - a quiet and slightly mysterious woman secretly in love with him. And following him is a growing train of equally mysterious, almost featureless, acolytes. His sermons speak directly to the hopes and fears of his ragged congregation, and all he asks for in return is a little aspiration which is harvested from the crowd. He extracts the essence from these hopes and sets into motion his master plan: the creation of a super being untainted by disease, disability, or disfigurement – a handmade messiah to either save the world, or potentially destroy it. But in an environment of secrets and false prophets, influence is bound to go astray, and the newborn innocent all too rapidly starts taking on human traits like jealousy, ambition, greed, and anger. And then there are the ghosts of a million failed scams and victims of his past misdeeds. As the boundaries between his parallel universes start to break down and blur, the man has to fight for his sanity, health, and life itself. Told in full character mask and through the use of a vivid scenic and sonic design, QUACK! is at times disturbing, at times bizarrely comic, and at times unbearably fragile and poignant. Devised by the cast under the direction of Rob Murray, featuring masks by Janni Younge, sound design by James Webb and Brydon Bolton, set design by Jesse Kramer, and costume design by Leila Anderson, QUACK! comes at you like a sensory cyclone, unfolding in a series of mesmerising images. In a thrilling blend of physical and visual performance infused with their signature approach to creating accessible, non-verbal performance, this is FTH:K upping the ante and boldly leaping into the unknown. Listen with your eyes! Step right up! |
||
|
Venue: Gallaudet University – Gil Eastman Studio Thursday, March 11 at 6:30 PM General Admission: $15 BUY TICKETS! |
||
From the award-winning from the hip: khulumakahle (FTH:K), and the makers of Pictures of You and GUMBO, comes QUACK!: an Afro-Gothic fantasy of desperate hope and dodgy deeds.
 |
 |
|
What the press have said so far:
“A new offering from Khulumakahle – and another success. Join the talented performers in an afro-noir story that requires no words, and start to listen with your eyes as the physical vocabulary and soundscape capture your imagination. This is fresh, exciting theatre – different from anything you’ve seen before.” – CUE
“Visually compelling…and a good dose of New Orleans Voodoo thrown in for good measure. The use of amazingly expressive and evocative masks is a trait they use very effectively, and director Rob Murray appears to love conjuring up theatrical tricks that offer rewarding surprises …Keep an eye on this play. It’ll soon be another feather in the cap for this award-winning company. Oh! And the soundtrack, as is usual for James Webb, is amazing, and if you simply go to see this show for its visuals and its sounds, you won’t be disappointed.” - Artsblog
“FTH:K Productions takes you into the nightmarish world with frightening masks and a soundtrack reminiscent of an aural hallucination in their non-verbal play Quack! And that’s only day one.” – mahala.co.za (Zoe Henry http://www.mahala.co.za/culture/welcome-to-amazing/ 6 July 2009)
“Rob Murray and From the Hip: Khulumakahle triumph again!” Caroline Smart, Artsmart (http://news.artsmart.co.za/2009/07/quack.html 14 July 2009 )
“Quack: FTH:K's newest offering is even more bizarre and bewildering than last year's Pictures of You. It's more ambitious, more fantastical and more fraught with weak bits. It's also likely to be, when it next runs at Cape Town's Intimate Theatre in September, even more awesome.” Cape Argus (Cape Argus, 14 July 2009)
FTH:K is South Africa’s premier Deaf and hearing integrated theatre company
