Cosmos Productions in partnership with the Cape Town Edge, a collective of 11 Cape Town based companies, took their show Paraphernalia to Grahamstown to perform at the National Arts Festival.
After a long and grueling rehearsal process, Paraphernalia was a resounding success selling over twice the amount of tickets than the previous year. The theme of the show was inspired by the Story of Stuff, an online video by Annie Leonard about where our stuff comes from and where it goes.
The story follows Stanley, a timid and self concious character who seeks more from life than just a stamping job and a friendship with a desk light. After an appointment with his therapist, and a blossoming relationship with his work colleague Felicity, he goes shopping and gets hooked by the world of consumerism and begins to loose connection to the important things in life.
The Official National Arts Festival newspaper The Cue wrote:
An insightful and emotive look at the world of consumerism in the modern world told through the story of Stanley and his lamp. Half absurdist, half commedia del’arte this multimedia piece is endearing and innovative. It uses daily objects as moving, living characters along with gorgeously choreographed stage movement is captivating and thus this show becomes a shining example of true fringe theatre.
As well as a fantastic review, the team were interviewed by Cue Online to create a podcast about the show and it’s characters. On Friday’s 2nd July we even had a feature story written about the show. Check out the link below.
http://cue.ru.ac.za/print/2010 – go to 02 / 07 / 2010
The Paraphernalia team will be performing the show again in Cape Town. Visit their website for more details or follow them on their Blog.
