How to Get up From a Chair-
A play inspired by YouTube tutorials.
Haifa Theatre
Debut Performance: 26/06/2018
Concept, writing, and directing: Ronnie Brodetzky
Choreography: Yotam Calo' Livne
Set design: Ruth Miller
Costume design: Alona Vainshtein
Music: Ran Bagno
Lighting: Ziv Voloshin
Assistant director: Yair Shapira
Cast: Jeremie Elfassy, Adar Beck, Uri Gov, Uriah Jablonowsky, Lior Lev, Yoel Rozenkier, Ron Rychter, Masha Shmulian, Shira Bllitz
Photography: Radai Rubinstein
About the play:
The show features a series of YouTube tutorials, some based on videos that actually exist and others inspired by such videos: an anguished, lonely bachelor teaches us how to wash the floor without slipping, a cat-loving Tel Aviv bachelorette looks for love, an infatuated young couple teaches us how to become popular on the internet, and a Krav Maga instructor gives self-defense lessons.
This is not an average play. You'll find neither plot nor story here. The show is built as an imitation of the act of watching YouTube. Each "video" leads to another "video". As we watch the tutorials, human stories unfold before our eyes, stories about the persistent yearning for love and belonging. Love is measured by the amount of "likes" you receive, and the number of views you attract is what makes you a winner.
In between the "videos" is the reflected image of the viewer gazing around him in frustration at this crazy “theatre of selfies”. He's looking for the answer to every question, and is left with the most basic question: how do you get up from a chair?
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The idea for How to Get up From a Chair came to me as I was reading Cronopios and Famas by Julio Cortázar. The book presents operating instructions for banal things: how to sing, how to wind a watch, how to climb the stairs. It occurred to me that in our era, we do have operating instructions for everything – in the form of YouTube.
My team of actors from the "Haifait" ensemble and I started combing through YouTube for video tutorials. The subject of the videos didn’t matter to us, as long as they were explaining something. We watched countless videos. Some were funny, some were weird, many were boring. But regardless of content, we found ourselves becoming attached to the characters in these videos, people from all over the world who have one thing in common: they all share the same desire to explain something to us. It doesn't matter what. Something that they know and that they want us to know, too.
My generation grew up on television, which is to say, on the aesthetic of studios, sets, lighting, and sound. YouTube, on the other hand, is an aesthetic of amateurism. The space being filmed is the home, the camerawork is messy, there's no makeup or special costuming, and there's nothing that glamorizes reality. Anyone can upload a video of themselves, and anyone can watch.
The material that we gathered for the play includes videos with billions of views as well as those with only a few dozen. The creators of these videos receive applause in the form of likes, or in the form of a rising number below the video. In effect, they are in a closed-circuit system – they shoot the video in their home space, they watch it (and other videos) at home, and they either receive or don't receive recognition at home.
The level of investment spent in making these videos varies. Some are edited roughly, some have sophisticated effects added in, some are not edited at all. There are young people, adults, elderly people, babies, and of course, cats. But they all have something in common – an intense yearning for love, recognition, and belonging.
In this show we try to give this love substantive expression. To connect the scattered videos to a story. To find meaning in them.
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From the reviews:
"The actors are delightful and full of contagious stage energy. They are a pleasure to watch. The tutorials are staged and edited with wit, intelligence, and a dynamism that arouses interest in the viewer "
Nano Shabtai, Haaretz
"I haven't seen a show so fresh, energetic, and entertaining in a long time... A show that's fun to watch... A smart and sensitive play... I give this performance a "like".
Irmi Amir, Reshet Bet
"Brings a wild, free, and refreshing perspective to the stage. An up-to-date product of Generation Y, much like the Internet in its ability to cross boundaries of age/demographic/flavor."
Merav Yudilevich, Habamah
"The end result is a funny and original but also painful show, which will certainly resonate strongly with younger viewers but might also open the minds of the older members of the audience."
Shay Bar-Yaakov, Yediot Aharonot
"An original play, skillfully performed; music, sound effects and mirrors are seamlessly incorporated. Highlights the complexity of our modern existence, which blurs the lines between real and virtual."
Hagit Bat-Eliezer, Yekum Tarbut