- Game
- NL premiere
asses.masses
Disclaimer
Lenght: 7 h 30 approx. with 4 intermissions
The length of the show is variable, depending on how long it takes the audience to finish the game. Food will be provided throughout the experience and served at each intermission.
asses.masses includes flashing lights, audience participation, violence, crude language, simulated donkey sex, simulated human sex, and references to drug use, suicide, and police brutality.
Age: 14+
This is not a performance that is suitable for young audiences
Participation and active spectatorship is a central part of asses.masses. The makers invite you to be part
of our Herd in any way you can.
asses.masses is a 7+ hour live video game in the theatre, where spectators take turns leading a herd of unemployed donkeys through a post-Industrial world. There’s no winning or losing, the story unfolds through the audience’s choices. Cheeky, political, and immersive, it explores work, technology, and freedom in an epic, collaborative experience.
The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give all donkeys their jobs back. But revolution is never easy!
asses.masses is a custom-made video game about labour, technophobia, and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre. This is gaming as performance; an immersive, cheeky, and highly original work. Brave spectators take turns at the controller to lead the herd through a post-Industrial society, where asses are valued more for their hides than their potential.
Confronting automation-driven job loss, nostalgia as a barrier to progress, and the role of technology in adaptation, the audience is encouraged to find space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us.
asses.masses is Animal Farm meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy; exciting in form as well as content. No previous gaming (or donkey) experience is required.
Press
“Could shows like this be the future of theatre? Fingers crossed.” ★★★★★ Broadway World UK
“Amid dark humour, fascinating worldbuilding, and multiple minigames (featuring homages to popular games like Pokémon and Metal Gear), asses.masses brings up compelling moral, philosophical, and spiritual questions.” Kingston Theatre Alliance
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Patrick Blenkarn + Milton Lim
Credits
Co-direction, text, programming, pixel art, 2d animation: Patrick Blenkarn (Canada)
Co-direction, text, sound design, video, shaders, 3d visual effects: Milton Lim (canada)
Dramaturgy, text, touring producer: Laurel Green (Canada)
Original music, sound design: David Mesiha (Canada)
Pixel art, 2d animation: Clarissa Picolo (Brazil)
Pixel art, 2d animation: William Roth (France)
3d environments: Ariadne Sage (Germany)
Additional programming: Samuel Reinhart (USA)
International distrubution: Stéphane Noël / Materialise (Hong Kong)
Tour operators: Patrick Blenkarn, Milton Lim, Laurel Green, David Mesiha, Stéphane Noël
Created with support from: Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, The Theatre Centre, VIVO Media Arts, Embassy of Canada to Argentina and Paraguay.
Developed with the funding support from: Creative BC, the British Columbia Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts.
Produced in association with: the National Arts Centre of Canada’s National Creation Fund.
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