'The first thing you are aware of is the noise. It sounds both familiar and strange, like the effort of 1000 insect wings flapping. Then you suddenly realise what it is: the sound of hundreds of feet of sticky tape being unwound. The sheer scale of this piece is thrilling. It is like watching somebody build the pyramids or the Eiffel Tower. The sticky tape edifice miraculously rises from the ground. It sways against the night, ethereal, beautiful, mysterious.' The Guardian As darkness falls, an expectant silence is gently ripped by a symphonic crackle of static as roll after roll of sticky tape is pulled and twisted out from the shadows - drawing lines of light that cut the space and quiver in the air. High above, a winged figure treads the sky, falters and then falls into a heaving carcass of translucent spidery limbs. A huge structure is wrenched upwards from out of the ground, forged with fire, machinery and smoke. Hundreds of sparklers burst into life as it transforms before our eyes into a beautiful tower of filigree pinnacles and leaf-veined windows, shimmering with fireworks against the backdrop of the night sky. People of all ages were mesmerised by this extraordinary free event, part of the Public Program at the 2002 Energex Brisbane Festival, following its spectacular debut at the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2002.
About Improbable Theatre
Improbable Theatre is a UK-based theatre company assembled in 1996. One of Europe’s most exciting and innovative companies, Improbable Theatre has created a number of international hits including 70 Hill Lane, Lifegame and Spirit. Two of the directors, Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott, also created Shockheaded Peter that took the West End and Broadway by storm. Sticky, their first outdoor creation, is breathtakingly inventive and thrillingly original. Their award-winning works have been performed in the UK, Egypt, Malaysia, Belgium, Germany, America, Greece, Canada, Lebanon, Ireland and Holland.
'Our shows have grown out of a way of working that means being prepared to create work by the seat of your pants and the skin of your teeth, stepping onstage before you are ready and allowing the audience to have an integral part in the creation of a show. We still believe that one day a big red-faced man brandishing a stick will appear at the back of the theatre and shout "Oi you bloody kids! Get out of it! Go on, clear off!" and we will be found-out and have to run away.' 'Outdoor theatre at its most epic, most beautiful, most celebratory.' Time Out 'Improbable have a reputation – and a wholly deserved one it turns out – for the shock of the new.' The Independent More information on Improbable Theatre Company projects. |
