On/Off

Johnothan Pram:

Victim of the 21st Century

“You temporarily belong to Johnothan Pram. Collect your torch here and shed some light into his world....”

A series of self-contained, yet interlinking visual episodes set in a world gone wrong, a world which gets the better of you, a world with a rather dark sense of humour... seen through the eyes of one Johnothan Pram, a figure chronically out of step with his surroundings.   Strong physicality, angular acoustics and a crooked vocabulary depicting a highly animated visual drama.

Highly visual solo performance, imaginatively warped and darkly humorous. Strong physicality, angular acoustics and crooked vocabulary

Johnothan Pram is everyman, the individual lost in society, a victim of his 21st century creations.  Reminiscent of an allegorical commedia embodiment, or Marcel Marceau’s Bip... or indeed Mr Bean on mescalin, he is a device holding up a mirror to society and reflecting back the pathos and humour of its rapid plummet into technocracy.

Winner of the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Fringe Performer 2004 for Victim of the 21st Century.

Victim of the 21st Century is a series of three pieces:

‘Living Room’, ‘cassettessac’ and ‘ On/Off’ address the absurd constraints of contemporary life and follow Johnothan Pram as he struggles to fathom the mechanics of his deranged reality.  Each piece is a self-contained black comedy, a comic-strip glimpse into the world of a single confused individual; shown in their entirety, they make up a rich tapestry of a world hurtling towards stasis.

Synopses :

Living Room

Amidst the clutter of the everyday Johnothan Pram paces in a world of paper, trapped inside a plastic box. 6 suitcases contain his belongings, 4 walls keep the 21st century at bay.  A pressure cooker of erratic activity spills a journey of irreversible consequence.  The beginner’s guide to the world of Pram, a world teetering on the brink of the unknown...

Cassettessac

Johnothan Pram has a cassette player attached to his chest that tells him what to do. It gives instructions, he follows, life’s precise, don’t ask questions, all he has to do is press play. Through a tale of deranged social etiquette and acute manipulation Johnothan Pram seeks to escape from a plummet into techno-seduction.

On/Off

There has been a fateful power-cut, the earth has stopped turning and Johnothan Pram has been left on the dark side of the world. Surrounded by redundant appliances, lit by audience torches and stubbornly persisting with a lifestyle gone bankrupt, Johnothan Pram goes to extreme and surreal lengths in order to carry on as usual. Faced with a world that simply doesn't work any more, how long can he maintain his 21st century values, and can he adapt before natural selection swallows him whole?

Reviews:

SCAN - University of Lancaster

Johnathon Pram - On/Off

Devised and Performed by Ben Faulks

Nuffield Theatre

The scenario presented onstage is a single human being prepared to test his survival without electricity. But a power cut is not the end of the world, is it? I suppose the closest we’ve got to playing this out ourselves was when we had the millennium bug scare.

The actor’s relationship with the audience became integral to first establishing how much we use electricity. Each spectator was given a torch before entering the theatre and was instructed to shine it on the actor when the stage lights went off. Therefore at intervals the actor became dependent not only on battery power in the absence of electrical appliances but also upon the audience to generate it for him. Such an active involvement made it more apparent for the spectator that the actor playing Johnothan Pram was representative of our 21st century reliance on electricity.

As a performer JP, also exhibited this reliance through his movements. His actions were timed to the rhythmical clicking as he typed on a keyboard and danced to the fuzzing of a TV screen. His seeming realisation at his inability to function without electricity seemed to drive him to madness and indecision through these erratic movements.

He even started to define the human being in terms of ‘a construction of mechanisms which work together to do a job’ as though we are robots working with and among machines to live.

As entertainment, On/Off was enjoyable to watch because of the humour injected into the situation. One funny line was when JP was trying to phone the authorities to complain about the delay in getting things working again. He reported that ‘the police have asked everyone not to panic. Not until the country is up and running again.’

The novelty of clicking the torches on and off never seemed to wear off and at only an hour long, JP did not outstay his welcome. So it was worth seeing but when talking to another spectator after the performance who had seen this performed once before, he said that it was not as enjoyable because it was the unpredictability which gave it the edge the first time.

By Natalie Yates

http://www.student-direct.co.uk

Arts: Turning us "On"

Posted by: Arts Editor on Nov 29, 2004 - 12:00 AM

On/Off

greenroom

November 19th

3.5/5

Jessica Stansfeld

“YOU NOW temporarily belong to Johnothan Pram” was the tag the evening’s stage manager fastened to my wrist as I was handed a small flashlight with instructions for when to turn it on (when the electricity cut out) and off (when light resumed).

“On/Off” is an ultra postmodern study of the future of the world according to award-winning artist/actor Benjamin Faulks. Last seen in the same guise during May’s sold-out performance at the Royal Exchange Studio, Faulks bases the character of Pram on someone who has been caught on the dark side of the planet.

There has been a power cut and the world has stopped spinning, but Pram tries to persevere in the dire circumstances. This is the third in his “Guinea Pig” series of installations about dealing with the human condition in the 21st century, while discussing what we hold dear and why.

This play is more a work of art than a piece of traditional theatre, exploring the extent to which we are 'plugged in' to our surroundings and how much we rely on its order. It is only an hour long, which makes it the perfect length to hold your attention.

I was touched by the poetry/lyrics and Faulks’ feet labouring away at an organ generated by pedal-power. However, my friend just saw it as some self-indulgent bloke dancing around with a vacuum cleaner.

As you can see, you will have to make your own minds up about Jonathan Pram. On/Off is quirky and interesting, and a question and answer session after the performance at least means that the artist isn't afraid to open his piece to discussion. In short, this is a piece which you'll probably find to be a bit like Marmite. You'll either love it, or you'll hate it. Personally, I loved it.

Three Weeks Edinburgh:

Johnothan’s Cassettessac

Johnothan Pram

Johnothan has the guts to say what we all think – and he does it in style.  His alternating shows explore the world through the unique perspective a lonely individual.  This show attacks the ‘grin and bear it’ mentality and through amazing physical and vocal characterisation and quirky songs, he tries to break free from the inner demons on the tapes and the monotony in his head.  At times it is a little weird, as he sings to us that we are ‘septic thumbelina pipe cleaners’ but he never loses himself or the audience.  Ultimately it is a sad piece told with beauty and surprising humour; contemporary surrealist theatre is rarely this digestible. 

Johnothan’s Living Room

Johnothan Pram

As we file in, an usher ties a tag to the wrist of each audience member which reads "you temporarily belong to Johnothan Pram". Pram moves his belongings precisely about the stage and asks himself, "What am I doing here? Why am I here?" and it's initially hard not to ask yourself the same. But as he begins to meld the physical with the vocal and moves away from the Beckettian suitcase shifting, the existential is married with the everyday, with very funny and occasionally moving results. Yes, this show is as weird as the spelling of his name, but as we file out, we know the answer to his question: we're here because this is brilliant - and we all belong to Johnothan Pram.

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