Ghosts of the near future is a thought provoking and intense piece of multi-genre, off-the-wall theatre that is sure to get audiences talking and many a theory discussed at the bar afterwards.
Ghosts of the Near Future is a 70 minute performance originally debuted to great acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This is a show that won’t easily fit into the standard fringe programme categories, as a piece of multi-form, multi-genre theatre utilising an exciting mix of soundscape, micro-cinema and storytelling through a predominantly monologue based prose.
The stage is minimally set with a screen and three small tableaus where different parts of the story take place. A desert, a magicians stage and a diner. Throughout the show the two actors (emma and pj) work together to build a complex and thought-provoking tale of death, the end of the world or the notion of simply ceasing to be. At times the narrative can feel a little confusing, and with a very short blurb from which to glean the shows themes, I wandered to my seat without much idea of what was about to unfold.
To begin, a man walks to one of only two mic stands on the stage, and delivers what at first seems to be an awkward stand up comedy routine, complete with polite titters from the audience. By the end of this slightly uncomfortable short set, I was nervous about the rest of the 67 minutes…however the tone shifts to begin a heartfelt monologue about the death of a childhood cat. This isn’t stand up…but what exactly is it?
Through a series of monologues interspersed with scenes of micro-cinema using projection boxes and small props on the pitch dark stage with coloured torches to intense and mind-bending soundscapes, the story focuses largely on a magician and his slow trek through the parched Nevada desert to Las Vegas and the odd souls he meets along the way. Whether in his mind or real, we don’t know, but his journey trudges on with the ever present notion of an impending end, frequently referred to as his final trick: the great disappearing act. The two actors intersperse these stories about our magician with tales of loss within their lives that manages to ground the story when the absurdity and whimsy threatens to derail the show.
Throughout the 70 minutes, I will admit there were several moments I found myself staring at a screen showing a hallucinatory landscape to the tune of cacophonous soundscapes increasing in intensity and wonder what on earth is going on?
But maybe that’s the point. When the end comes, perhaps all we need know is that we are safe, comfortable and loved, like the family cat who finds a warm corner to curl up in at the end of a long life, well lived.