Golem
Created by 1927. Director and writer Suzanne Andrade. Film. animation and design. Paul Barritt. Music Lillian Henley. Performed by Esme Appleton, Lillian Henley, Rose Robinson, Shamira Turner and Will Close. Voice of Golem. Ben Whitehead. Dunstan Playhouse. A 1927, Salzburg Festival, Theatre de la Ville Paris and Young Vic co-production. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival of Arts. Adelaide Festival of Arts 2016. March 8 - 13 2016
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| Golem. Photo by Bernhard Mueller |
Meet Robert the Geek. Robert is a
nerd who by day works in the Binary Backup Department stringing binary numbers
0 and 1 in sequences to represent the simplest form of programming data to
represent letters, numbers and characters. In 1927’s brilliantly conceived and
executed visually imaginative display of
live performance, comic book handmade animation, Claymation and onstage live
music that is all you need to know about Binary coding. The rest is sheer,
mindboggling fantasy. It is also worth knowing that Robert Robertson lives with
his sister Annie and his grandmother. Annie has created a hip punk band of
survivors of school bullying and Robert
moonlights as a member of the band. That is until he happens to pass Phil
Sylocates’ Golem shop. A background of roughly drawn shop facades sweeps past
as Robert makes his way down streets of buildings, cafes, shops and nightclubs. Spruiker Phil draws Robert into his shop and
that is where 1927’s modern day fable really begins.
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| Golem. Photo by Bernhard Mueller |
Drawing on the ancient Jewish
folklore of the man who creates Golem out of clay to satisfy his every need,
1927 has created a modern parable, a startling, disturbing and comical glimpse
of human frailty and obsession with the materialistic life and all it offers
the safe, secure and comfortable modern person. Sylocates’ smooth
entrepreneurial hard sell is all it takes for Robert to succumb and acquire his
very own Golem Version One, a clay animation that is guaranteed to satisfy
Robert’s every whim. But beware of what you wish for, and the servile Golem has
a way of questioning Robert’s judgement and slyly establishing authority and
control.
When Golem Version One appears to
spin out of control and self-destruct, the Robertson family appears free of control,
until Golem version 2, a mini dynamite-powered golem swings into action, urging
Robert to vie for promotion as supervisor of the Bibary Backup Depot, over the
obvious successor Julian. The misogynistic sexist golem turns Robert against
the 35 year old, frumpy love interest Joy: “She only wants to trick you into
having babies” and setting Robert up with two attractive girlfriends, dressing
him in outlandish clothes. Golem Version 2 is securely in control and the
servant is now the master, and when Golem 2 is no longer able to satisfy the
greedy desire for more , then there will always be Golem Version 3 to do
Robert’s bidding, Or has that become the other way around?
1927’s Golem is a dire warning against the invidious control of a technology designed to do our bidding and yet defining our desires. It is the way of a world that robs us of free will and makes us dependent on machines and technology. This is not a new premise. Earlier science fiction writers have long pronounced the dangers of a society, reliant upon technology to be their pot of materialistic gold. The servant has become the master and the master the monster.
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| Golem. Photo by Bernhard Mueller |
