The Nekaa Room: Dark Matter

Boca Del Lupo has got to be one of my favourite local theatre groups around. Whether I'm at one of their free summer shows where I find myself walking through the trails of Stanley Park following storybook characters come to life, or hopping into a dumpster bin in the Downtown Eastside for a candlelight soliloquy, I never know what to expect at a Boca Del Lupo show!

I've seen their version of Hunchback of Notre Dame, which took place beneath the Burrard Street Bridge, with high flying acrobatics and all. The last show I saw of theirs at a HIVE event, I was forced to lay down and look up into a chimney-like structure where two actors took turns belaying up and down and landing on a glass floor.

Their latest offering is Sachiyo Takahashi's The Nekka Room: Dark Matter, as part of the Micro Performance Series. In this 25 minute production, the audience is presented with a mini stage that is magnified and projected onto a big screen. The story features a sheep who meets a businessman (played by a rabbit), a school girl (played by a cat), and a "usual guy" (played by a sock puppet). If you haven't guessed, all the featured actors are tiny toys, that are manipulated and maneuvered by Takahashi, who is working furiously behind the digital camera, focusing the lens, placing the toys, and using tweezers to handle the dialogue, printed out on slips of fortune cookie paper.

The entire show is silent, save for the accompanying soundtrack. It's creepy at times, moving and touching in others. Takahashi's goal is to examine the culture of cuteness in Japanese society. The images that she creates for the audience are beyond cute, however. In fact, they are downright beautiful.

An imaginative and creative piece of work!

Show Dates and Times: March 8, 9, 10 ~ 7pm, 7:45pm, 8:30pm, 9:15pm each night
Location: The Anderson Street Space: 1405 Anderson St map
Admission Price: $10 buy tickets here