{"id":2139,"date":"2017-07-04T00:08:13","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T22:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2139"},"modified":"2021-07-06T13:14:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:14:59","slug":"plastocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=2139","title":{"rendered":"Plastocracy: Where does it go?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The cast and Geoffrey in Plastocracy. Photo: Jan Potgieter. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t particularly care for us Sapiens. I eagerly await the planet shaking our species off like a dog ridding itself of fleas. But it\u2019s the fleas and the dogs I\u2019d like to have a peaceful place to live until the galaxies collide and earth disappears. They don\u2019t mess it up so why should they suffer the shit storm we\u2019re causing?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry, this ain\u2019t no preachy bit. Chanting the reduce-reuse-recycle message here, at this stage of worldwide attention to climate issues, is like teaching you to recite the alphabet. Most of us know what we\u2019re doing and what we should be doing.<\/p>\n

Yet\u2026 somewhere between knowing and doing, we\u2019re hitting a snag.<\/p>\n

Look around. If you\u2019re out on the streets, guaranteed there\u2019s some litter near your feet. If you\u2019re at a restaurant, guaranteed a massive amount of food will be wasted today and chucked out. If you\u2019re at home \u2013 how many plastic containers do you see? Within my reach is a calculator, pens, panado bottle, hand cream, lipstick (not mine) and a flip file. And this laptop (and mouse etc.).<\/p>\n

Plastocracy<\/em> is about plastic \u2013 this material so ubiquitous, it seems impossible to imagine life without it.<\/p>\n

Although billed as fringe physical theatre, Plastocracy<\/em> is more children\u2019s educational theatre (it should run in every SA school!), but this shouldn\u2019t discourage you from going. Some might say \u2018but clearly adults aren\u2019t paying attention so the piece is for them too\u2019. I agree in principle, but one uses a completely different tone for children\u2019s theatre, and I think many adults and parents check out if they think \u2018ok, this is a lesson for kids that pollution is bad\u2019.<\/p>\n

And there are a couple of scenes where the ‘message’ is stated aloud \u2013 if not for the kiddies needing to hear it, I would have liked the story of Geoffrey the Plastic Man to have been our focus and more layered metaphor following his story and journey. Simply through our fascination with this eerie, strange, fantastical creature, there was potential for a harder-hitting punch which wasn’t fully delivered. I wanted more of him.<\/p>\n

Alright, that aside\u2026 some lovely stuff! I loved the \u2018evangelical\u2019 scene; people praising and worshipping plastic, irrational slaves to the world\u2019s capitalist economy that runs on packaging. I loved the aliens visiting earth in the future once we\u2019re dead and gone; the planet is saturated with plastic \u2018artefacts\u2019 the aliens believe to be the \u201coil-based intelligent lifeform\u2026 perfectly preserved\u201d \u2013 it doesn\u2019t disintegrate!<\/p>\n

The cast\u2019s singing is perfect, and they do a good job creating the caricatures they portray as the scenes chop and change, presenting various viewpoints on pollution.<\/p>\n

And wow, Geoffrey really is amazingly crafted out of trash, designed by Francois Knoetze. His pumping red plastic heart beats faster when he\u2019s threatened. His spindly legs tremble as he tries to stand for the first time.His funny big head and poppy eyes makes us sympathise with this strange and lonely creature.<\/p>\n

In our current political climate (and actual climate)\u2026 think of that insult-to-humanity-manchurian-candidate-nincompoop-asshole\u2019s recent withdrawal of the USA from the Paris agreement. Never mind the unbelievable number of denialists across the world or simply the people that don\u2019t give a damn\u2026 With people like the aforementioned moron wielding power, we’ll keep seeing stupid, cruel decisions like the expansion of animal agriculture, clearing of forests and unique ecology, and harvesting the seas clean of fish.<\/p>\n

At the rate we\u2019re filling the oceans with plastic, there soon won\u2019t be room left for any sealife.<\/p>\n

— Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plastocracy<\/em> is on tomorrow, 04 July at 16.00. Book here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Director: Kyla Davis
\nCompany: Well Worn Theatre Company
\nPuppet design: Francois Knoetze
\nFeaturing: Lerato Sefoloshe, Sanelisiwe Yekani, Lea Vivier, Mlindeli Zondi and Antonio Van Lendt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t particularly care for us Sapiens. I eagerly await the planet shaking our species off like a dog ridding itself of fleas. But it\u2019s the fleas and the dogs … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[84,265,301,442,453,457,545,581,653,724],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4413,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions\/4413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}