Adam Haupt : On stage in Cape Town
Graham Weir’s Tales from the Dark Side takes us into the sort of twilight zone world which odd people such as Ray Bradbury depict. Many devoted television addicts will recall Bradbury’s series, which often told very twisted tales. But Tales from the Dark Side is very far from the average bedroom TV experience.
Weir’s combination of storytelling, a capella and puppetry takes us into the mundane world of Bernard and challenges conservative expectations about theatre. Weir, with a lookalike puppet strapped to his chest, drags a wheelchair onto the stage as he sings. His narrative centres on Bernard’s strange dreams and desires, which include washing himself in chicken blood and meeting an old Asian woman who rips a chicken’s head off.
Things begin to happen for our hero when these dreams blur into real life. For some inexplicable reason he finds himself in the hands of merciless kidnappers, who beat him senseless. We then meet Thumb, Imprint, Pin and Stump.
the characters are of the sort one would expect to find in a David Lynch dream sequence and are both strange and funny. There is an element of the familiar in these characters, particularly when Thumb says, ”You have done things you shouldn’t have.”
Armchair psychoanalysts would have a field day debating breathlessly about the play’s exploration of the subject’s impulse to act upon desires and being rebuked for doing so by external forces. Existentialists may be annoyed by the cartoon characterisation of these forces, though, and the avid conspiracy theorist may leave the show feeling completely vindicated. But whatever your inclination on this debatable issue might be, the reason for Bernard’s new life in this twilight underworld is made clear by Thumb.
Oddly enough, these characters are perversely reminiscent of the sinister lords of the underworld at Vlakplaas, which may continue to exist in other hot spots. The nurse also makes for great psychobabble as Bernard often confuses her with a woman who comes to him in his troubled dreams. During these blurred moments the comfort which he seeks is often motherly care which, at the same time, is a tad sexualised.
What makes this theatre experience novel is that we are very rarely reminded that the narrative is being told by a single performer. Weir manages to tap into our imagination and uses his body, the puppet and a capella very suggestively so that we, more often than not, set the scene in our minds.
Weir is so engaging and active that the audience is completely enthralled in the gripping tale as it builds to its crescendo. In fact, I wonder whether it occurred to the audience that anyone who walked in and saw Weir mid-performance, would be convinced that he is stark raving mad. There is a lesson to be learned here for those who are interested in theatre that explores life outside of the mainstream – outside of the ambit of the acceptable, sane and altogether ”well-made”.
— Tales from the Dark Side is on at the Arena Theatre on the Hiddingh Campus of the University of Cape Town until April 4