Brooke Matherly
Through heavily physical theatre, wacky guitar music, and a whole lot of water, Pat-A-Cake productions shows the audience its take on the economic policy in The Trickle Down Effect. The message of this piece is very clear...
...they do not like the trickle down effect. The entire piece is dedicated to showing it as an ineffective system. The piece is outside and features four functioning shower heads that gives the audience a visual representation of the trickle down effect by varying the amount of water each head delivered.
Pacing was a bit of an issue in this production. The show began with the performers slowly running towards the performance space. In a thirty minute play, every part needs to be tailored for efficiency and clarity. The effect of showing the extreme effort and competition between the performers was understood and accomplished roughly half way through this opening. These pacing issues continued throughout the play.
The message of this piece was clear from the very start. Unfortunately, the rest of the show did not do much to expend upon the initial themes. While an opinion and a clear vision is important to any socioeconomic performance piece, it is worthwhile presenting other arguments and complexities in order to present a mature argument. This piece could have benefited from developing their argument further and giving the audience a variety of points instead of constantly revisiting the initial metaphor of dealing with the unequal water delivery.
The only point where the performers added something new to the discussion was a brief segment of one of the four performers breaking away from the task of filling her bucket to redistribute some of her water and losing some of her water to three mafia style thugs. However, once this trope was established, it too fell into the trap of the unchanging metaphor.
The Trickle Down Effect’s biggest strength is in its clear message. The metaphorical tie between the flowing shower heads and the economic policy is established immediately and holds constant throughout the piece. The biggest weakness is in its failure to develop beyond that initial connection.
Pacing was a bit of an issue in this production. The show began with the performers slowly running towards the performance space. In a thirty minute play, every part needs to be tailored for efficiency and clarity. The effect of showing the extreme effort and competition between the performers was understood and accomplished roughly half way through this opening. These pacing issues continued throughout the play.
The message of this piece was clear from the very start. Unfortunately, the rest of the show did not do much to expend upon the initial themes. While an opinion and a clear vision is important to any socioeconomic performance piece, it is worthwhile presenting other arguments and complexities in order to present a mature argument. This piece could have benefited from developing their argument further and giving the audience a variety of points instead of constantly revisiting the initial metaphor of dealing with the unequal water delivery.
The only point where the performers added something new to the discussion was a brief segment of one of the four performers breaking away from the task of filling her bucket to redistribute some of her water and losing some of her water to three mafia style thugs. However, once this trope was established, it too fell into the trap of the unchanging metaphor.
The Trickle Down Effect’s biggest strength is in its clear message. The metaphorical tie between the flowing shower heads and the economic policy is established immediately and holds constant throughout the piece. The biggest weakness is in its failure to develop beyond that initial connection.