‘You Can’t Control How Your iPod Shuffles’
Production: “You can’t control how your iPod shuffles”
Venue: Drama Barn
Date: Friday 20th June
Director: Stephanie Hotchkiss
Rating: **
The billing of You Can’t Control How Your iPod Shuffles as a multimedia piece was somewhat misleading. I entered the barn expecting some arty, techno-savvy ‘experimental’ student drama. Actually, it was a comedy sketch show. Presumably its title related to the quick-fire shuffle of scenes portraying different portions of a big night out. The multimedia element was limited to a spoof podcast of a truly dreadful guide to pulling which was projected on to a backscreen at the beginning of the show – for no apparent reason or dramatic gain.
The piece was devised by the cast of six and director Stephanie Hotchkiss, and you could be in no doubt that this was written by students, for students. And specifically York students at that: most of the action – be it romantic overtures in toilet cubicles or gypsy mystics manning the cloakroom – appeared to be taking place inside Ziggys. iPod Shuffles took your average drunken student night out and stretched it to a rude, ridiculous and often surreal new level.
TV show conventions were nicely called into play to lampoon drunken excesses: a couple’s stand-off at either end of a bar became a boxing match with the barmen offering spot-on sports commentary; a character getting down on the dance floor with moves such as ‘the lawnmower’ and ‘pushing the trolley’ got the Strictly Come Dancing treatment. All this relied on deftly daft performances to pull it off – and while the cast initially seemed a little nervous of their material and shy of the audience, as the show went on they thankfully grew in confidence. Bex Darmony shone particularly, with a deliciously dry and deadpan performance, whether pretending to be homeless student’s dog, drawling in a pastiche of a film noir hero, or even emerging from a man’s arse in A&E.
While some sketches ended on high enough notes to win spontaneous rounds of applause, others seemed to struggle to find endings for themselves – as is often the case with this form of drama. This wasn’t helped by the curiously long black-out scene changes, which although soundtracked by suitably cheesy dance-floor hits, dragged the pace right down, despite rarely involving very complex set or props.
A stark contrast to Drama Soc’s usual offerings, iPod Shuffles was a surprising choice for a week eight slot, and frankly held little appeal for anyone not a regular attendee of York’s grottier nightspots and kebab houses. It was very light fare, a portion of cheesy chips if you will. Yet occasionally, something insubstantial but tasty, and a little bit naughty, just about hits the spot.
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