Hello, Are You Still There? — Review
ATYP’s reviewing program was created to give young people a platform to voice their opinions and experiences while developing skills in critical reflection. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of ATYP or its staff.
Hello, Are You Still There?, 2024. Photo by Lucy Parakhina – Shopfront Arts Co–op
Hello, Are You Still There? is the latest and greatest offering from the match made in heaven known as Shopfront Co-Op and Milk Crate Theatre. This pair of companies have worked together previously, and their collaborations always manage to create something magical, rich and unique.
The title, clearly a play on that all-too-familiar feeling we have on phone calls, hints at a show that deals with how technology impacts our daily lives and our connections with one another. In addition to this, Hello, Are You Still There? asks its audience to observe the difference between some people who have grown up never knowing a life without the internet and others who have had technology thrust upon them in their adult lives. As such, it explores the role of technology in the lives of an intergenerational ensemble of eleven artists pondering the question, “How do we consider our own relevance in a digital world?”
Going into this show, I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by an avant-garde, absurdist piece of theatre that reminded me of George Lucas’ film THX 1138. The sparse, prison-like set (Margot Politis) created the sense that the ensemble wasn’t in – or from – our world. Rather, we were watching the inner workings of a phone microchip or personalities stuck inside ‘the algorithm. ’ Both the stark, dynamic, colourful lighting (Tyler Fitzpatrick) and stylised, dance-esque movement sequence (Natalie Rose) that opened the performance provide the backbone to the show.
Hello, Are You Still There?, 2024. Photo by Lucy Parakhina – Shopfront Arts Co–op
Also worth mentioning are the neutral, mundane, unordinary and yet ever-so-slightly-off-kilter-to-be-interesting costumes (Amelia – Set and Costume Assistant). They simultaneously present the actors as an ensemble and distinguish each other enough so they don’t all mesh together in the audience’s mind. And, Co-Composers Jack Prest and Frank Dwyer provide a great depth and resonance to the space with their all-encompassing sound design. The beating heart of the accompanying lights and movement.
Unfortunately, I respect this show more than I enjoy it. The months of collaboration between the companies, the creative team, and the ensemble of artists is evident. Their commitment to their vision has paid off. However, in an effort to cater to the importance they place on the intergenerational exchange (which is important), the show simply doesn’t have a narrative throughline or thread to pull it along from stylised movement sequence to stylised movement sequence. It feels like it is meandering, so when we finally get to someone leaving the box they are trapped in, the show is over! It feels like we get to the ‘Call to adventure’ part of the story, and then it ends.
Natalie and Margot (the co-directors) have a genuine opinion to share, but it gets lost in all the noise. All in all, this concept has been done before, and it has been done better. Not by George Lucas and THX 1138, but in other media and shows.
★★★
— Ben Webb