Written by Glen Neath

starring - FINLAY ROBERTSON & AMBER ROSE SEALEY on March 15, 7pm, and - GEMMA BROCKIS & DAVID ROSENBERG [ from shunt ] on March 16, 7pm

romcom, is a unique theatre experience. Two performers will meet on stage before an audience and enact the familiar story of a relationship. The "story" has been pre-recorded onto 2 CDs and will be relayed to them, for the first time, through a set of headphones. "Every night, a different man and woman say what they are told to say and do what they are told to do." A clever metaphor, and some hilarious dialogue - but the "results" are never the same...

Naturally, the excellent performers mentioned above [including members of the infamous shunt] have agreed to do the show, but have absolutely no idea what is expected of them; they simply turn up and put on a set of headphones through which their instructions are given to them.

The two CD's - one for each performer - are started simultaneously with a third disc, a DVD, containing both the music for the show and the images projected as backdrops to the action. All three discs then run on for 50 minutes without any human intervention!

* * *

This is the important first step in a new project: the exploration of a strategy we're calling T.O.C.A.R. - Theatre of Command and Response. This piece is an expansion of an idea originally explored in rotozaza3 [BLOKE], which underwent many changes, travels and translations between 1999 and 2001 and featured at the B.A.C. in 2000 as part of the British Festival of Visual Theatre. Hettie Judah noted in the Times that the results were "often very funny" [see www.rotozaza.co.uk for full review / more info on BLOKE] and subsequent incarnations have never failed to enthral an audience.

"romcom," makes several significant advances in the technique. For a start it's written for a couple, and although they still have no idea what they are about to say and do, there are many events that are universal to anyone who has ever been romantically involved with someone else... The structure, TOTALLY AUTOMATIC and "closed", contrasts sharply with the very human and OPEN process of negotiating and carrying out the instructions. The performers, when they get home, may find themselves saying: 'If only I'd said it like that!' For further information see http: / /www.rotozaza.co.uk or email romcom@rotozaza.co.uk