Carl Linnaeus.

SubUrb

Freewheeling British director Toby Gough is back in Christchurch with a multi-media reinterpretation of Shakespeare's `Twelfth Night'. CHRISTOPHER MOORE reports.

Scene One: February 1996. Enter British theatre writer and directorToby Gough, freewheeling on rollerblades through the Christchurch Botanic Gardens in search of the 18th-century Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus.

Scene Two: March 1997. Our hero has returned, still mounted on rollerblades, still in full-blooded pursuit of new theatrical sights, sounds, and experiences. This time, however, Gough is a world and several galaxies away from the botanic in ``Linnaeus -- Prince of Flowers'' with a rock musical ``SubUrb'', commissioned by the Christchurch Drama Centre Performance Trust and sponsored by the British Council Link programme. It is described in the trust's handouts as a reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's sardonic masterpiece ``Twelfth Night''. Toby Gough's new musical, described as ``adrenal, optical, and aural stimulation for entertainment junkies'', will be performed for the first time in the Repertory Theatre on March 21. Set in a decaying metropolis, the multi-media production focuses on a futuristic city-state recovering from an apocalyptic war. The Haves are imprisoned underground, spending their time in mind games and ritualised love to escape from the monotony. Above them, the Have-nots walk the city streets searching for the entrance into the enticing cabaret being acted out beneath their feet. The fragile balance between the two peoples is shattered by the arrival of newcomers carrying the seeds of change. The work reflects the mood of carnival and the reign of King Fool where the world is set on its ears and everything is illusion. Produced by Rosie Belton, ``SubUrb'' includes music composed by Chris Hoban, digital animations devised by Scottish animator Jason Hertzmark, video projections and a plot which, in characteristically Goughian style, contains elements ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. ``It is all based on the senses,'' Gough says with disarming simplicity. ``At one level it portrays the relationship between Britain and New Zealand at the end of the 20th century and how we deal with the various memories and ghosts, inherited traditions, and mores at a time when many of these things appear to be in a process of disintegration and reform.''Gough has taken the foundations of Shakespeare's original play, added the Elizabethan preoccupation with metaphysics and astrology, and mixed well. ``The play represents a Dantesque journey through heaven and hell -- a mythic fairytale, a scientific allegory. `Twelfth Night' was written at a time of great social change and upheaval. ``The dawn of the 21st century is also a time of great social change, but cyberspace has replaced the New World of the late 16th century, while the Internet has become the centre of new alliances and differences,'' he says. ``We've retained some other elements of the Shakespeare play. In `SubUrb', the Fool is still there while Malvolio becomes the Chief of Police, a member and champion of the old order.'' Co-ordinating a cast of more than 30 individuals imposes its own demands -- especially when they are accompanied by four on-stage cameras and a highly complex set of stage directions. Unlike the production of ``Linnaeus'', the audience will be seated, surrounded by a wrap-around stage. ``We tried to obtain a venue which would have allowed the audience to move around. The King Edward Barracks Building would have been perfect, but the acoustics would have been far from ideal,'' Rosie Belton says. ``This play is a melting pot in which we and the audience are trying to find gold,'' adds Toby Gough. ``SubUrb'' will run at the Repertory Theatre from March 21 to April 5. --------------------