Celebrate Halloween at The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough with director Ryan Kerr’s production of Tristan Tzara’s Dadist classic The Gas Heart.
A beautifully macabre performance piece, The Gas Heart is bold and unconventional theatre that utilizes movement and sound instead of meaning and story. However, despite the overall ambiguity of the plot and dialogue, a language between the actors is created in which the words and performance becomes a strange sort of poetry within itself.
Originally written in 1923, Tristan Tzara’s original concept for The Gas Heart was a parody of classical drama. Simon Turner plays the narrator who instructs his performers through an odd series of nonsensical yet dramatically intense vignettes.
His performers, each representing a facial feature (eyes, mouth, ear, eyebrow, nose and neck) are played by Sarah McNeilly, Daniel Smith, Derek Bell, Naomi Duvall, Frances Loiselle, and Skylar Ough.
Contorting their bodies to create the illusion of deformities, the cast is oddly beautiful to look at, and create a strange rhythm and relationship between each other. The result is a hypnotic effect that prevents the audience from being able to look away.
A selection of photos from the preview performance taken by photographer Andy Carroll
One of the most memorable aspects of the show is the imaginative costumes, designed to perfection by Kate Story, which enhance both the tragedy and the eroticism of the performance. Original and provocative, the performance becomes part fashion show — but with Tod Browning’s Freaks as the designer’s theme.
The Gas Heart is not conventional theatre and not recommended for audiences who cannot appreciate the absurd. However, for those who want to experience something memorable, highly original and eerily frightening, The Gas Heart is a performance that’s going to stick in your gut for a long while.
The production is a visual triumph and I applaud Ryan Kerr and his company for making something so absurdist so entertaining to watch. The combination of movement, poetry, music, costumes and sound makes this a high=quality performance piece that will seep into your nightmares. Perfect to get you into the Halloween spirit.
The Gas Heart runs from Thursday, October 29th to Saturday, October 31st at The Theatre On King (159 King Street, Suite 120, Peterborough). Performances are at 8 p.m. and are $10 or pay what you can.
On Friday, October 30th, the second episode of Crime City will follow The Gas Heart, making a perfect theatrical double bill.
