Hunting of the Snark

MEDIA RELEASE
20/03/07
For Immediate Release
Attn: Arts Editor/Reporter

SANITY IS SO YESTERDAY

BATS Theatre, 8 – 12 May, 6:30pm.

The Playground Collective presents…
Hunting of the Snark

This fast paced, surreal devised show is loosely based on Lewis Carrol’s famous nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark. A crew of absurd characters arrive on a strange island, hunting for an undefined… thing: ‘The Snark’. A series of bizarre encounters and adventures follow throughout their quest.

They sought it with thimbles. They sought it with care.
They pursued it with forks and hope
They threatened its life with a railway share.
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Drawing influence from companies such as the UK’s Kneehigh Theatre, which uses moments of verse contrasted with vast adaptation of the original text, the poem revolves around the nature of nonsense and the way people need to search for meaning. Whilst many interpreters of the poem have tried to construct their own meaning from the disparate strands of story, this performance argues that the ‘Snark’ is indefinable and represents the search for meaning itself. Lewis Carroll himself has no interpretation, and this production will stimulate debate and pose questions around the interpretation of ‘The Snark’.

The Playground Collective has been set up to provide the next stepping stone for young actors, designers, and musicians who have been through the Young and Hungry festival at BATS theatre – or something like it – but are still just as hungry as ever. The aim is to produce theatre that has viability over concept, and is artistically experimental yet accessible. Directors Robin Kerr and Eli Kent have both just returned from teaching Drama to students at The New International School of Thailand. Robin has just completed studying as a member of The Year Out Drama Company in the United Kingdom, and performed in their production of The Tempest at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Join the Bellman, the Baker, the Butcher, the Beaver, and the rest of their alliterative comrades, as they explore a world void of common sense in their wayward search for the ‘Snark’.

--

Check out www.myspace.com/huntingofthesnark

8 – 12 May, 6:30pm
Tickets: Adults $15 Concessions / groups of 6+ $12
book@bats.co.nz or 04 802 4175

ENDS

© Scoop Media