Comings and Goings at the Municipal Library

Your local library. A quiet, serene haven of creativity, information and the everyday practice of harvesting bodily fluids from the world’s greatest minds in order to conceive a gifted child.

Sound a bit odd? Welcome to the twisted world of PIT, an up-and-coming company specialising in surreal stories told through a cocktail of multimedia, puppetry and total theatre.

‘Comings and Goings at the Municipal Library’, the latest offering from the Hertfordshire-based group, is a piece of new writing by co-founder David Byrne, the brains behind 2004’s award winning sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show ‘OFSTED! The Musical’.

The new play, which premiered in a rough-and-ready form at the Rosemary Branch Theatre in London in November, follows a scheming librarian who conspires to blackmail sperm from a prominent academic within the confines of a library-cum-laboratory.

The action is punctuated by awkward physical comedy, dark humour and a collection of idiosyncratic characters who wouldn’t be out of place in The League of Gentlemen’s nightmare town of Royston Vasey.

With minimal set and few props to work with, this was a chance to see a production very much in its infancy.

The hour-long script suffers from wordiness, and it is unclear whether the focus of the piece lies in the scatterbrain plot or the gleefully absurd imagery of the projected animation.

PIT are an intriguing bunch, comprised of energetic actors of varying shapes and sizes, gleefully absurd dialogue and a tangible ambition which fills the spectator with the glorious sense that it could all fall apart at any moment.

It’s bizarre stuff, and the group have a long way to go before finding their unique voice, but their impressive track record and commitment to taking creative risks marks them out as a wacky tip for future success.

12 seconds of fame

 

Through the wonders of Twitter, I have been directed towards 12secondstv.

Billed as “a super easy way to share what you’re doing with your friends and family using short video clips,” it’s like a version of BBC 3’s 60 second news for the common man.

The beauty of the concept, in our short attention span culture, is that it’s so restrictive. Twelve seconds is just the right amount of time to say something – or to say not very much, as most people choose to do.

It’s also incredibly easy to use, if you have the right kit. Just plug in your camera and the site will automatically detect it; click record and you’ve got twelve seconds to get your message across.

A quick browse of recent contributions reveals snowfall outside a house in Eden Prairie, Minnesota; a woman reciting a brilliantly-timed tongue twister; and a guy who leans in to the camera and whispers simply, “I’m not wearing pants. But you’ll never know.”

To help the process along or perhaps attempt to restore some order among the chaos, the site sets a daily challenge.

A few days ago the inevitable request was to ‘Tell us something that has nothing to do with the election’, and on Friday users were asked to decide ‘If Rocky fought Mr T, who would win?’

Most people choose to ignore the challenge and simply post 12 seconds of whatever is going on in their world at the time.

There is a 12 second clip of a Lionel Richie gig; a Korean lady who has just booked her flights to Malaysia; and a stunningly fast guitar solo.

I have yet to add my own clip, mainly because Fridays are quiet in our office and if I started talking to my computer they might finally ship me off to the funny farm. I will try it out in the comfort of my own home soon.

The point of all this is yet to become clear to me. In terms of news, it would be almost impossible to communicate anything other than headlines within the allocated time. But it doesn’t seem to be set up for anything other than a bit of fun.

My scepticism about self-indulgent status updates remains, but it’s amazing how much more interesting people’s lives are when you can actually see their faces.

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