Wednesday, September 13, 2006

David Rees is in the Hizzzzzzouse!

Actually he wasn't there, but I went to see a theatrical staging of Get Your War On by the Rude Mechs of Austin.

They did quite a good job I thought. They didn't tart it up too much, mostly being straight readings from the comic strip by various actors. Visuals were done on a set of 5 overhead projectors, and included some of the comic's clip art along with some other things, with a tiny bit of costumes/music thrown in for a bit of distraction. The OHPs required the actors to be switching slides, sometimes quite creatively, and they provided a nice theatrical expression of the simplicity and low-tech nature of the clip art.

Rees's work has held up well since he began, though it's frightening to realize just how long this has been going on. Each little segment was prominently date stamped, fix the event in its time, and it was creepy to realize that the Iraq conversation has changed little since the Fall of 2003 (let alone the fact that we started entering Crazy Iraq Talk Land in March of 2002). Truly we're living in Groundhog Day.

Anyway, anyone local should go see it while it's in town.