Rimini Protokoll: Best Before opens Jan. 29

Conspirators Carlson and Foy collaborate with Berlin-based theatremakers

The video game gets rewired for the live stage in Rimini Protokoll’s Best Before, running at the Cultch as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and the Cultural Olympiad from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6.

Conspiracy’s artistic producer Tim Carlson and artistic associate James Foy have been collaborating with the Berlin-based theatre company as dramaturge and technical director for over a year. The show will tour to cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe throughout 2010.

Rimini Protokoll is one of Europe’s most acclaimed contemporary companies, practicing a singular flavour of documentary theatre that’s grounded in the character of a given city and in the experiences of experts from various walks of life who serve as the performers. The company has created over 20 works over the past dozen years in cities all over Europe as well as India and Argentina.

In Best Before, each audience member will have a gaming controller in hand, manipulating their avatar on screen and interacting with the performers. The concept grew out of Rimini’s interest in Vancouver’s video game industry and how the conventions and structures of games can be adapted for live performance — giving the audience a unique interface with the action on stage.

Tim Carlson spent the month of September in Europe, seeing Rimini Protokoll rehearsals and performances in Zurich, Berlin, Dresden and Munich, and preparing for the Vancouver show, as part of a professional development project supported by Canada Council and BCAC. As well as working on script development in creative sessions, he has lead the project in terms of casting and research. He will lead a talkback session after the performance on Feb. 4.

James Foy is busy coordinating the show’s many technical demands with game designer Brady Marks, lighting designer John Webber, set designer Andreas Kahre, composer Stefan Smulovitz, and directors Helgard Haug and Stefan Kaegi. The tour expands his work exponentially as the game system will be adapted for very different theatres in each city.

For more on Rimini Protokoll and Best Before:

www.rimini-protokoll.de/website/en/index.php
www.pushfestival.ca
www.thecultch.com

Photo: Milan Radovanovic