GYM PARTY | STAGE REVIEW
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 16 May
When a production has the word “party” in the title, you’re greeted by names in neon lights and a cast dressed in equally neon wigs running around the theatre space doing synchronized dancing to 80s hits by Heart you expect that you’re in for a fun time and, believe me, you are. There are flying skittles and marshmallows, head stands and long jumps, and lots of awkward junior disco dancing.
However there is a hell of a lot more to it than that. Gym Party is a dark exploration of the human desire to win whatever the cost. It’s the pursuit for ‘gory glory’, the knowledge of how good winning can make you feel that makes all the terrible and atrocious things it took to get there okay. Chris, Jess and Ira compete “for You” the audience in a truly interactive apocalyptic games championship. When they lose and literally beat themselves up on stage that is because of the choices You made. When they verbally attack each other it’s because You put them in that position.
Made In China and Theatr Iolo have created something truly unique and for me almost indescribable. It makes for uncomfortable viewing because the line between acting and realism is so blurred. Competition isn’t so much fun anymore. Personal anecdotes somehow find a way to wriggle their way into your own experiences. Aspiration becomes self mutilation.
In the final moments of the show I actually decided on the winner. I won’t spoil it by saying how, but it wasn’t because I was brave or I crave the spotlight. It was because I couldn’t stand the tension or uncertainty that no-one else would, and that I cared. I cared that they were, in the words of Heart, alone. I cared that they would be disappointed. That is why you need to see this. A piece of theatre that can bond you to the audience and to the characters in just an hour and stays with you until the next day is an experience you need to have. I know I’ll never listen to Everlong in the same way again.
words ADRIENNE WALKER
