An evening of STOMP-inspired family friendly fun but with no firm stance on recycling or the climate crisis.
In the dark chaos of half-term that only young parents will understand, TRASH! delivers a family friendly show that not only keeps the kids engaged but gives the parents a surprisingly efficient outlet as well. For the avid theatregoer (who perhaps would have preferred something a touch more “highbrow”), it was a welcome crash course in successful marketing and the making of theatre that speaks directly to your audience’s needs. In this case, that need was: ensuring the whole family had something to do together after a day of work, day care, and/or fleeting half term activities, and which ended with enough time to spare for the bedtime routine.
Produced and created by comedy and events company YLLANA, the show is 1 hour and 35 minutes of clown, song, and percussion. Set in a recycling facility, the four performers – who bear a striking resemblance to the gibberish-speaking Minions from the DESPICABLE ME franchise – cycle through a set of percussive numbers using plastic bottles, bin bags, colanders, and garbage cans. Balanced by a steady stream of narrative slapstick and physical comedy, each number explores the use of each of these recycled items as sound-making devices. At many points, the performers invite the audience to join them in relishing each discovery of a new sound. I’ll admit that it was hard not to start hitting all of the objects around me when I returned to my flat later that evening.
The show began with a beautiful piece in which three members, all cloaked in bin bags, performed a remarkable choreographed number by punching the bags from inside their plastic sheathes. One of the few moments of relative quiet in the show, it was a grounding introduction to the group’s percussive expertise, enthusiasm, and commitment to ensemble. The other highlight was founding member Gorka González’s spiritual solo on tuned propane tanks. Again, these quieter pieces gave a much needed reprieve from the rest of the show’s ear-blasting rapture.
Where the show veered from my thorough enjoyment was the lack of a throughline in the story. I was excited to see what YLLANA had to offer the ripe field of environmental communication through theatre, especially in a show marketed to children, who will be most impacted by the climate crisis. It was disappointing to learn that the show leaned more on stand-alone, high energy numbers and slapstick comedy than it did on any one unified message of hope or action to the kids in the audience.
More specifically, as a show marketed as a story about recycling – an extremely relevant and time-old popular topic in the performing and visual arts – it could have been more convincing in its message on recycling. Instead, it seemed a bit tone-deaf to the current cultural moment, in which many are doubting the efficacy of recycling as just another scheme by fossil fuel companies (whose revenue streams rely largely on selling the raw materials for plastic production) to distract attention from their lucrative role in the climate emergency. At one point, a voiceover mentioned cutting down on consumption in general – which, given the relevant doubts about recycling, could have been the central message – but that message was quickly overpowered by the wonder of hitting trash to make exciting noises.
Additionally, for a show about recycling, it wasn’t clear that the objects they were using were actually recycled. Perhaps they had conveniently found four of the same colanders, umbrellas, and toolboxes. Nevertheless, the optics of truly found, unique objects could have brought a bigger punch. No doubt, it is probably immensely difficult to find objects that produce those kinds of sounds and can also sustain that level of daily percussive force. That said, it’s the price you pay if you’re going to do a show about recycling with a tangible message.
About mid-way through the show, I noticed the dad sitting in front of me was clapping louder than his own son. He didn’t seem to mind any of the things that forked at my attention – a good reminder that the show certainly served an important purpose for all those families who palpably enjoyed their mid-week theatre outing. In many ways, it was refreshing to sit in such a rowdy audience, while so many of the “highbrow” audiences these days can take on a downright funereal quietude, making you doubt if you have a right to be there at all. It is my hope that more pieces like TRASH! take to prestigious stages like the Peacock but also challenge themselves and their audiences to move beyond simply the realm of entertainment, especially when the climate crisis is one of the characters in the story.
Trash! runs until the 1st March