WEEKEND SPECIAL
21 Jun 2019
MEGAN FURNISS reviews
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If you’re quick you can still catch a couple more shows of Zombie Attack at the Alexander Bar and Theatre before it heads off to the NAF. And you should, because this short, sharp and totally delicious show is a treat. Mind you, if you don’t catch it now it is certain to reappear on Cape Town stages.
Gaëtan meets us at the door to the theatre, dressed in his familiar ‘giving a lecture ala The Dog’s Bollocks’ white shirt and black pants. Zombie Attack is billed as ‘what happens when you suffer from panic before having to stand up in front of the whole class’, but it really is just an excuse to place all the action at a tiny school desk.
Gaëtan first leads us through (at speed-dating speed) a brilliant prologue, with the complicated visual aid of Post-Its that track, in a convoluted and crazy way, the linear journey of the hero and his antagonists, through references to the movies that will be referenced later on. It’s mad, and funny, and quite brilliant.
And then it happens. Accompanied by a wild, intense, unbelievably well edited sound track of movie music and bits of dialogue and even sound effects, Gaëtan performs a tiny physical odyssey, sitting at his tiny desk, as he is pursued by the ‘zombies’ of fear, and he makes his heroic, and sometimes very shooty getaway.
Insanely clever and satisfying
It is pure, clean genius, where every moment is intended, brilliantly executed, hilarious and clever. Gaëtan showcases his talent and skill for perfect physical comedy and mime; and the references to movies (most very familiar to any movie fan, are original and creative. There is no time to breathe as we are led from car chase through shoot-out to Top Gun air battle, falling through space or travelling at hyper speed into it. And then there is Christopher Walken’s famous watch scene from Pulp Fiction. How did we get there? I’m not even sure! I love that Gaëtan is able to capture changes in scale – he zooms in and back out again, from characters that are fingers, to a close-up moment of a face in shock. He edits, in a completely filmic way, his own short version, and then teaser, and trailer version of the big story. It’s insanely clever and satisfying.
I was delighted and exhausted as I left the theatre 40 minutes later. The premise of Zombie Attack is a very thin one. But who cares? This is fast, sexy, funny physical theatre and it is great.
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https://weekendspecial.co.za/zombie-attack-alexander-bar-review/
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THE CRITTER
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July 4, 2019
SHEENA STANNARD reviews
Gaëtan Schmid greets us as we come into the venue (the intimate Masonic Back) with his wide, boyish smile and welcomes us into the show with an equally generous introduction.
The set consists of a speaker, a beautifully crafted wooden little school desk and chair and a wall filled with post-it notes on which are written the titles of well-known films.
He tells us how he constructed his soundscape for the show to come from the soundtracks of these films – not just clips edited into montage one after the other, but using layering; and he shows us performative moments to look out for in his performance to come from the films.
Pointing to the sticky notes, he tells us what the narrative arc will be and how it is mapped through the films, through which portals he will travel to annihilation and cyclically back to repeat.
He tells us the theme : fear … of a little boy (himself) having to give his poetry recital in class, of public speaking, of the actor facing their audience.
He says the zombies represent, and are symbolic of, this fear.
He also says we must not get caught up in trying to recognize the films, but just to flow with the show like water.
He then begins his miming, sitting in fear and trembling as the petrified little Gaëtan in his English class knowing he is about to be asked to present his poem. Fear assails him, and he is then immersed, as are we, in his roller-coaster ride of personified play-acted power-struggles between the aggressors and the vulnerable.
At one point we hear: “I am not an animal, I am a human” from the movie Alien, and, in a resonance with the show ERSATZ (which I affectionately headline The Descent of Man) one begins to wonder what exactly is happening to humanity.
The little boy can fight the zombie apocalypse, but we seem doomed. Perhaps like Gaëtan, we can use our imaginative powers to fight the living dead, drooling, capitalist, oligarchist, one percent who brutalise the world, and Gaëtan’s transfixing, mesmerizing, hypnotizing performance might just inspire this visualization.
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THE HERALD SPOTLIGHT
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July 2019
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TERRI HARRIS reviews
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Gaëtan Schmid gives an impressive mime performance to a variation of soundtracks from movies such as Fight Club, Apocalypse Now, Harry Potter and so much more. He truly embodies the mental turmoil we all go through before we face public speaking. A real feel good show that we can all relate to.
