Bootworks Theatre: Predator

Bootworks Theatre: Predator

Bootworks Theatre: Predator

So, you know the 80s action movie Predator? The one with Arnie in, about an alien stalker who picks off a load of butch blokes one by one when they stray off the beaten path into the deepest depths of the South American jungle? You don’t? Neither did I, which some might consider a disadvantage for an audience member attending maverick theatre company Bootworks’ latest wheeze, an interactive performance by Andy Roberts in which his childhood dream of finally getting to the end of a blow-by-blow re-enactment of Predatoris finally realised. Luckily, it is all a jolly good and entertaining romp, regardless of whether you get the film refs or not. I’m just glad I wasn’t called upon to be one of the three audience members to take starring, multi-character roles in the action, as I don’t think I would have done Dutch and Billy and Poncho justice – although I think I made a pretty good brief appearance as a restless jaguar stalking the jungle, even if I do say so myself.

So, let’s rewind a bit. Andy is doing this because when he was a little boy, he and his big brother used to sneak downstairs after bedtime and watchPredator, then act it out obsessively the next day – gun battles, grenade attacks, ferocious tearing apart of victims limb-by-limb, the lot. But they never got to the end, to the bit (‘spoiler alert’) where the cyborg predator gets beaten; there was always school or homework or tea getting in the way. And one day, his brother went to big school, and got more interested in ‘Liverpool FC and boobies’ than in playing war games, so that was that.

The film is acted out with great vim and vigour and enough amusing asides to entertain those of us who have little idea of what the hell is going down. As the mother of three sons (the eldest not that much younger than Andy), the role of the show’s absent character, the boys’ mother, struck a chord: ‘Christmas morning and we wanted guns, guns, guns. And what did we get? Rubik cubes!’ Ah yes, I remember clearly the gun ban, enforced by all well-meaning feminist mothers in the 80s – thwarted in my household by a seven-year-old who spent his very first pocket money in the Poundshop buying a cop gun, badge and handcuffs set. Boys will be boys will be boys will be boys, it was always thus so and will probably ever be, regardless of what the mums might wish for – and the Bootworks boys are playing with this platitude to great comic effect.

The visual aesthetic for the show is (not surprisingly) super-low-tech: a blow-up palm tree and a paddling pool filled with bouncy balls, a batch of cardboard signs, an economy bag of plastic soldiers, and a joke shop Predator costume – with a few Anglepoise lamps and a clickety-click slideshow of family snapshots illuminating the action. Special mention also to the remote-control toy ’copter that plays a crucial role in the proceedings.

It is all strung together very nicely, Andy handles his helpers with due care and attention, and keeps it all moving at a cracking pace, the only drop being a ‘snack break’ section that falls a little flat, despite the cheese strings and Mother’s Pride sarnies.

Audience was key in this show – well, it is in any show but you know what I mean. As well as our three supporting ‘actors’, who fill in for Andy’s absent brother (too tied up with Dad duties to come out and play, although Andy did try to get him in, calling him on a Fisher-Price toy telephone – a nice touch), the rest of us get to be swaying palm trees, or parrots, or – did I mention what a good jaguar I made?

The Basement’s intimate space, The Pit, was the perfect setting for this show – packed in to capacity and up close, there was no choice but to be involved. It was great also to go to a ‘main programme’ Brighton Festival show that had a high proportion of young adult males in the audience – a demographic more likely to be found in the comedy clubs than theatre and performance art venues. Brownie points for Bootworks and The Basement for bringing in new audiences to contemporary theatre!

www.bootworkstheatre.co.uk

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Dorothy Max Prior

About Dorothy Max Prior

Dorothy Max Prior is the editor of Total Theatre Magazine, and is also a performer, writer, dramaturg and choreographer/director working in theatre, dance, installation and outdoor arts. Much of her work is sited in public spaces or in venues other than regular theatres. She also writes essays and stories, some of which are published and some of which languish in bottom drawers – and she teaches drama, dance and creative non-fiction writing. www.dorothymaxprior.com