Yo Future Review
Yo Future is played out in an awesome venue at TAPAC in Western Springs. The giant barrel-shaped theatre packs two grandstands full of audience goers facing one another, while the show plays out in the middle.
It all starts with an Indian boy. He walks on stage nonchalantly looking around awkwardly. Everyone thought he was a last minute spectator looking to join some friends in the crowd, but soon enough more awkwardly lost individuals join him onstage. This random assortment of actors, and their unsure expressions, represent what it is like to be a teenager today – in that strange purgatory between childhood and full blown adult hood. How does one behave? How are they supposed to respond to things like wealth, alcohol and mobile phones?
At first, it was a little hard to come to grips with any sort of narrative plot. The picking up and holding of an invisible life force before seeing it trampled by snobby Ponsonby chicks is both confusing yet understandable on a more basic level.
The life force, which could be seen as happiness or spirit, gets bombarded by a humorous group of charity fundraisers looking to save Africa and find cures for Ebola (Which has “taken over the world” – priceless). These charity workers are the people who constantly find a way to hammer home that no matter how great someone’s life is, there’s still someone worse off out there and everyone should be sad and miserable about the plight until it gets fixed. I guess the message is to not let your own life force be deflated by the misery and greed of others.
The introduction of a mechanical bull and stage smoke half way through bring about humour, greed, old timey laughter and a bout of unrestrained mayhem – which included one guy literally climbing the walls in a bid to escape. As the group breaks into all out chaos, props, money and a mini ticker tape canon get tossed around in and help bring the audience closer to the sentiment they are trying to depict. Needless to say, the stage is going to need a significant clean up between performances but this is all the more reason to buy a cheap ticket, sit back and enjoy.
Yo Future delves into the depths of all too familiar situations, and some not so familiar, while showcasing the absolute extremes of human emotion in a fun, digestible way.
Awkward shuffling, onstage selfies and a tonne of contagious giggling is sure to keep you entertained for the entire sixty minutes.
Created by Jo Randerson’s Barbarian Productions, Yo Future will be on at TAPAC until 25 October.
Reviewed by Nicholas Brookland