Undercurrents Festival of One Act Plays: WeeTube 5400 Attemps a MultiMedia Event That Frees the Audience, With Mixed Results

WeeTube 5400 is a multimedia performance which uses popular YouTube videos and the comments found under them for the basis of its narrative. The story seems to revolve around everybody and, at the same time, nobody in particular. Or is it so? First of all, is it a story at all?

For about 80 minutes, the actors explore weird videos posted on the popular site YouTube and interpret visitors/subscribers’ comments, in a cold and somewhat detached tone. They choose different settings for “commentators,” such as a home, research laboratory, beach, etc. Why is it so? Are they trying to tell the audience something about certain types of people, about a new generation, new time or, about anything? While the audience laughs at the profanity of the dialogues and weirdness of the videos (this type of humour always works), there is nothing under the surface of this long and repetitive play.

The idea is interesting, but utterly unexplored. It leaves an impression of an author who lost inspiration from  the very beginning but  instead of digging deeper, dwells on the same phrase until the end. As a result, the characters, the story line, and most importantly, the message, all get lost somewhere between an attempt to be different, avant-garde, or experimental. The artist sometimes forgets that all these things are only a way to tell something, portray someone or to convey a message. Plus, the chosen means has to work for the stage. Connecting with the audience is far more than offering them cake or popcorn.

At the beginning of the performance, the audience is told to feel free to move during the show, go to the bar to fetch a drink and to come back. Although it may add to a relaxed atmosphere, it can be also very distracting for those trying to concentrate both on the stage and in the audience (I believe that it is a main reason why most theatres ask for silence during the show).