Monday, April 4, 2011

"The Rubber Room"

Today we went to see "The Rubber Room".  It was brilliant.

There were only 2 actors, playing Sam Francisco and Sophie.  Sophie has been in the Rubber Room for 4 months.  She has spent this time trying to figure out why she was sent there.  She is loosing it a bit.  Her actions and thoughts were all taken from teachers who had actually been placed into Rubber Rooms.

She is joined by Sam.  They talk about how he got there, and he says he swore at a student and threw a table.

They explore who they are by looking at the objects in their pockets.  Sam is revealed to have been raised by his mother, and is called 'Rainman' as he had aspergers.  He also struggles to make friends.  Sophie is revealed as being messy and alone. 

There is a stunning section when the lights go out at 12:19 until 1:19, when Sophie creates Sophieland!  Here she is the mayor.  In this section, Sophie and Sam become friends.

In the third sequence, Sophie asks some mathematical questions, which reveal that Sam is not infact a teacher, but an analyst, sent to watch her and experiment.  (Hense the guinea pig sequence).  Sophie tricks Sam and runs off with his keys etc.

The concept was around whether rubber rooms could work in NZ.  The links to New Zealand included references to 'beyond 5th form maths', and Sam saying he arrived in 'Auckland'.

There was only 1 scene in the whole hour performance, broken by the section of darkness.

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