Full Throttle

This post is from our heavy-metal man, William vonReichbauer!



Our performance piece, "Peril on the Red Planet," explores some pretty heavy issues, including personal sacrifice, loss, perseverance in the face of adversity and even death (though not directly) and includes lots of loud, often scary sounds and sound effects as well as intense combat sequences. If we are performing for very young children, i.e. kindergarten and first grade, we typically tone certain elements of the show down so as not to frighten the audience. We also usually do a small "show and tell" before the show to introduce some of the louder and scarier sounds. Many of us take turns playing some of the musical instruments used in the show. We also wheel out the large gathering drum and let the kids have a go at banging on it for a little while. Occasionally, I will play a few of the more frightening sound effects for the children while one of my fellow cast members explains to them that the homicidal robot in the show, Zartok 3, is actually not real but is merely a set of sounds on my laptop. (The first time we did this little demo, though, we had three kids wailing in abject terror within two seconds of me hitting the play button. Oops.)

This afternoon, however, we gave our second performance of the season for a group of middle school students. Interestingly, "Peril on the Red Planet" was originally conceived for a middle school audience. It probably goes without saying that middle schoolers are very different from Elementary students: middle school students think they've seen it all, they're beginning to get a little cynical and a little jaded, and they're starting to think that they're too cool for school. This, of course, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to really open up the throttle and see what this show can do.

Today brought us to the Clarkton School of Discovery in eastern North Carolina's sandhills region. We performed on a beautiful stage with a nice set of stage lights (it's always a treat to perform under something other than gymnasium fluorescents) in the school's media center. As soon as we walked on stage in our shiny silver jackets, we could hear derisive chuckles rippling through the audience. Game on. From the show's opening heavy metal guitar riff to the wicked staff fight between Diana and Demeter to the epic final battle with Zartok 3, the whole show was as intense and as ferocious as we have ever performed it. Every catcall or inappropriate laugh from the audience pushed us to raise the intensity of the show even further. Ultimately, we received a great response from the audience who could scarcely contain a thunderous round of applause at the end of the show.