Bats - 19 April 2004
Opening tonight at BATS a new devised work from the acclaimed SEEyD Theatre Company - The Remedy Syndrome - starring Tim
Spite and Danielle Mason. This topical production follows a couple as they come together and start a family, but around
the issue of vaccination they face falling apart.
Coming up at BATS, the ODDFELLOWS NZ International Comedy Festival – kicking off with James Ashcroft’s dramatic comedy
solo show Sorry I’m Out But I Can Be Booked. Check out the rest of our fab comedy season at www.bats.co.nz.
To book for any performance at BATS simply email book@bats.co.nz with your name, number of tickets and date you wish to
attend. We will reply to confirm your booking and you can pay when you come to the show.
Love x BATS
The Remedy Syndrome
Season: Tuesday 19 – Saturday 30 April (no show Sun/Mon)
Time: 7pm
Tickets: $16 full/$12 concession
‘The absence of disease is the least sexy thing to sell in the universe.’
Created by Tim Spite, Danielle Mason, Pedro Ilgenfritz and Leo Gene Peters, “the remedy syndrome” is the new devised
work from the critically acclaimed SEEyD Theatre Company.
“…and if your hairdresser messes up your hair you go to another hairdresser you don’t become a hair dresser…and I think
the mistake they often make in immunisation is that instead of ‘I don’t trust that person I’ll go and talk to some one
else’ you try and become the expert… and you just can’t really, genuinely, easily become the expert. So how do you make
informed consent? I think informed consent’s nonsense to be honest.”
The story centres on Rebecca and Joe as they face the issue of vaccinating their child. Overwhelmed by all the
information, they negotiate their own blueprint for parenting while their differences force them to question their
compatibility. This work grew from interviews with both scientific professionals and others from the community.
“Now why did Helen Clarke announce that 200 million would be spent on vaccination the day after they got into
parliament? I believe she was paying someone back; she was doing someone a favour. She’d just got into power she didn’t
need to buy votes. She didn’t have to impress anyone. It’s all so political.”
“Take the Iraq war for example. They went to war for two reasons, with the exception of getting cheap oil. Two reasons:
Weapons and vaccines. There is a lot of money to be made out of both when you go to war.”
The SEEyD Theatre Company began with the creation of three stand-alone plays: “SEEyD” in the Wellington Fringe Festival
2000 followed by “inSalt” in 2001 and “SAnD” in 2002. All three works have won Most Original Production in the Chapman
Tripp Theatre Awards for their respective years and “inSalt” also won Best Design. “the remedy syndrome” continues the
companies desire to make politically involved work that interweaves design and narrative and most importantly humour.
“All you’re doing with a vaccine you’re…if you like you’re taking the immune system to the gym. You’re giving it a
little work out. You know we live in a very clean world now; the immune system doesn’t get the kind of work out it used
to. So we’re like weak and pasty faced, in a sense, in the face of microbes. We might get to adulthood now without
encountering a lot of microbes we used to encounter as very small infants. So we’re actually not that well adapted to
this very clean world we live in. So, in a sense vaccines are partly a compensation for that.”
ENDS