Two strangers, Winston and Penny, meet at a bus stop where they find a radio and go off in space and time. The story of The Middle of Everywhere, a live theatre production from the unusual performance ensemble Wonderheads, begins from there.
The Middle of Everywhere stars founding artistic directors Andrew Phoenix and Kate Braidwood. The play’s two characters find a radio that is actually a transporter, allowing Winston, played by Phoenix, and Penny, played by Braidwood, to go anywhere imaginable.
“They can go everywhere with this device that can transform them through space and time,” said Phoenix. “There’s no limit to the audiences’ imagination; no limit to where we can go.”
Wonderheads wrote the show in a cartoonish way, an approach that did not limit exploration to only adult themes. Wonderheads recommends The Middle of Everywhere for children from age five up to adults.
“It’s a really funny, adventurous romp,” said Braidwood, “but it also deals with facing and confronting fears, and gives you stuff to think about.”
Wonderheads’ form of performance theatre work is quite unusual for North America, a wordless style originating in Europe called full-face mask. Examples are ancient comedy and tragedy masks that are symbols of theatre or carnival masks from festivals such as Mardi Gras. The masks can take 50 to 80 hours to create.
“Large, magical masks cover our whole face and our mouths,” said Phoenix, “so we don’t speak in the show. None of the characters speak.”
Phoenix explained that the story is told with all emotion and thought, and the relationship between the characters is conveyed through physicality and gesture. There is also narration, lighting, music and sound effects. How the characters relate to each other and how the audience understands them is through body movement.
“We call ourselves live-action Pixar, or living cartoons. When we think of a Pixar film as adults, we don’t consider them just for kids, but we’re happy to watch them with a young person, just as much as we’re happy to watch them with our grandparents,” said Phoenix.
The members of the award-winning Portland-based company met at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, a 40-year-old arts institution in northern California.
“That’s where we learned to do what we now do,” said Braidwood. “This company really mashes together all of those skills we’ve accumulated over time; the more traditional theatre skills, but also the physical theatre training and the mask making. It’s a way we found to incorporate our passions into one thing.”
The troupe has created and toured with three shows in the United States and Canada to critical acclaim; Grim and Fischer, Loon and The Middle of Everywhere.
It has also published the Wonderheads Book of Wonder, for children and adults, written by the company’s associate head, Emily Windler, and Lou Watson, who also contributed the original illustrations.
The Middle of Everywhere takes place 7 pm Thursday, April 14 at Max Cameron Theatre. Tickets are available at maxcamerontheatre.com or at the door. For more information, go to wonderheads.com.
