NAF: BACKSTORY

Two-hander that explores the evolution process of man in innovative and amusing ways (A review by Shika Budhoo)

Backstory, appearing on the Fringe of the National Arts Festival, is a two-hander that explores the evolution process of man in innovative and amusing ways, starring Craig Morris and Barry Strydom, directed by Athena Mazarakis.

The play traces the steps from the first sign of what we call the human species today with the evolutionary process highlighted until the culmination of the modern man. The play shows the human being with all its intellect and emotional range and all-round growth since the first seeds of what we are today were planted on this earth. It explores the way in which we have evolved due to nature and nurture in a changing environment. The script influences are Darwinian in essence, with the principles of the ‘survival of the fittest’ theory and ‘adaptation’ fully expressed. The show adds in its own gene to the DNA pool, the MARC (Mitochondrial Archaic Reincarnative Chromosome) gene.

The show presented as a lecture by Prof M (Strydom), a geneticist who has his son, Mark, nearby to experiment on with regression therapy through hypnosis to seek the answers about the evolution of man in the present form. Prof M’s lecture is titled: “Extinction is the norm. Searching for MARC. Catalyst for survival or destruction.”

MARC is a gene that Prof M believes is responsible for the positives and negatives that define our species. The play highlights moments in time through hypnotic regression therapy all the way from the beginning when human-like creatures, our ancient predecessors bent over to walk, until the development of language and behaviour that resembles the modern day human being, his son, Mark (Morris) the ‘lab rat’ to his father’s scientific fancies.

I enjoyed the play a lot. I loved its concepts and the performances were intriguing. I feel the existential questions that float around our present time linked to an evolutionary understanding a great combination of art and science. I am glad a production such as this exists. I like the fact that artists are exploring the sciences (in their own way) and in this play we see the possibilities of the evolutionary process adding to our contemporary understandings of human existence.

Barry Strydom portrayed the experimental professor with adequate excitement and managed to make the script, which was loaded with technical explanation and scientific discourse, sound believable and rooted in a modern day mind. Craig Morris’s talents are extremely riveting, with the ability to tell many short tales through grunts and physicality only. His grunts had specific placements and his body moved like liquid.

I liked the theatrical devices used by the piece- a screen with stop-motion animation, puppetry, silhouettes, sound effects at select points, added visual projections and interesting light mechanisms behind a screen. These devices added to the lecture-like feel of the piece and sometimes it was handy because the complex discourse moved quite fast at times. There are comic moments that tickle the funny bone, both in the physicality and the text. There is so much to say about this piece, so rather go watch it and see what I mean. Backstory is running at the Masonic Hall during festival. – Shika Budhoo