Seizer
Brian Logan
The Guardian, 12 August 1997
It’s a noble tradition to marry the theatre to “the participatory exultation of the dance scene”. Many have tried, and usually failed. In 1996, the Irvine Welsh-penned Headstate demonstrated the difficulty of balancing the two, but this year Boilerhouse has teamed up with writer Spencer Hazel to put together an experience that sates a generation’s demand for visceral angry and intelligent theatre.
Tam Dean Burn is again the star, as sort of post-apocalyptic Oprah on amphetamines, orchestrating a coliseum of the confessional. As three unsuspecting guests surrender their emotional frailties to popular consumption, Burn gloats from atop an armoured chariot. But don’t revile him: “It’s no me, like. It’s the public that want it.” Camcorders, techno, and the This is Your Life theme are used to sometimes extraordinary effect in a raw, superbly performed production that drags the parasitic sensationalism of documentary entertainment to its sick conclusion.