Phoebe Bakker
Where do you go when you are feeling low? HOUSE OF LIFE.
Are you are looking for some joy, some love and some laughter? Then I present to you the perfect show to send any blues out the door. House of Life describes itself as one part sermon, one part purge and three parts party. We enter into this mindset early on. Eagerly awaiting in line I was met with our lovingly named RaveRend decked out in his own glitter beard painting everyone (with permission of course) with their own glitter stripes immediately uniting/indoctrinating us all. Inside we are met with even more glitter, wrist bands and lights. A cluster of glamour that sparkled as far as the eye could see.
It’s easy to get swept up in the buzz of it all. I could tell a lot of people weren’t too sure what this show was going to be. There’s a distinct american-isation to it all, a play on our expectations of what church can be. It’s a hard sell to a British reserved audience and you have to play your cards quickly and well. They do just that. Our two characters the RaveRend and Trev play off each other as a comedy duo expertly, one the ever loving enigmatic RaveRend and the other the straight man who’s had his life changed by this experience. Our Guarantee of success.
In our quest to happiness we must go through eight stages with varying degrees of length. Step one was to arrive so we quickly tick that off. Through these stages the audience are given prompts that allow us to shape the show and take it in the directions we like. Beautifully this means that no two shows will be the same as a lot of what works for this piece is the enthusiasm and the generosity of the audience. To their credit The RaveRend and Trev manage to draw it out of people beautifully. Filled to the brim with charisma they know exactly when to get us to join in and when to show off, they create a space that feels safe and even more than that they are able to create a space that feels authentically supportive without the gimmick of it. There’s no pressure to join in but you’ll find even the most reserved people sitting forward in anticipatory glee.
Music is boldly presented at every stage of this show. From getting us to sing about this bizarre fascination with chickens to the Holier than thou voice of the RaveRend with a commendable amount of stamina. Strong performances are thrown at us, left right and centre fed through this narrative which serves to highlight them. The skills from Trev are insane as he stands behind his mixing desk using the loop peddle to mix in the audiences voices and opinions into it’s own version. The idea of the show is simple but the necessary skills to be able to pull it off effectively are much harder to succeed in. It’s a beautiful thing to watch people do something thats technically tricky but make it look easy.
There’s a change in the middle of the show. Introduced to the stage of purge you’ll be submerged in this loop peddle of what makes people angry. From the most banal irritants, to the worst parts of humanity. A sound wall of the things we hate played over and over. It’s raw and real and still united in all fronts. In the middle the RaveRend introduces his own anger for the wall and it’s a powerful turn in the piece. We don’t get much explanation of the context behind this, and quite frankly I don’t need any. For me this was just enough to see behind the curtain of why this show was created. Like the purge would suggest, when this section is over there’s just a lot of love left over.
You, the audience get to choose how this show ends. If you’re anything like my audience that might mean a bit of music, a group hug and a collective breath. But that doesn’t mean it will always be like that. This show is about you, about us, about we as a collective. It’s a good reminder about how community and connectivity are so integral to modern living but how we have a tendency to forget. I don’t want to say this show will change your life but I didn’t know how much I needed this until I got it.
Join the RAVEolution!
Recommended drink: A glittery Holy water
You can catch House of Life at Underbelly Cowgate – Belly Dancer from Aug 20-25 at 20:55. Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Jake Mace
