Curtain Rising - Index

Curtain Rising - Curtain Rising Magazine - Volume 1, Issue 20 - September 11, 2007 - Index

Reading into the Hippo World Guest Book
By Andrew Field
Contributor
Taking 400 or so pages of
conversation from the longsince
abandoned Internet
message board of a website
which existed purely for lovers
of the hippopotamus, fringe
veteran and experimental
genius Chris Goode carefully
constructed a perfect parable
for, well, the whole of
civilization.
We begin with the creation.
An introduction informed us
that the page was created by
a pleasant looking middle-aged
man residing somewhere in the
US named Ramon Valencia, to
share his innocent fascination
with and love of hippos. The
introduction went on to tell
us how a disillusioned Ramon
abandoned the site. Goode
carefully built a little shrine
adorned with a stuffed toy, a
candle and a photo of this most
beneficent of creators; in this
way Valencia became a ghostly
absence shimmering over the piece, leaving in his
wake a fascinating internet petrie dish, teeming with
the good, the bad and the ugly of modern life.
Goode read postings from the website verbatim.
Shouting frequently to great comic effect whenever
anyone USED CAPITALS. Indeed, simply observing
someone recite a section of the vast miasma of
meaningless nonsense collected on the Internet
is an intriguing experience. Spoken out loud, the
absurdity of some of the things people choose
to post becomes hilariously apparent and the
occasional blast of absolute gibberish is transformed
into fabulously bizarre musical performance.
The show began with a series of merry, if slightly
deranged, little posts complimenting Valencia on his
website. However, slowly and painfully this little society
11
Chris Goode and his Hippo World Guest Book.
started to fall apart.
Photo courtesy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In the shows most beautiful and absurd segment, a
single voice cries out to Ramon, his absent creator,
begging and pleading him to answer. But of course
God has long since left the building. By the end even
this desperate human voice died off, leaving only blank
spaces and automated spamming machines.
And as the lights dim and the music soars; from one
man reading from an Internet message board - the
image was conjured of a lonely barren future, peopled
only by automated robots, picking through the broken
remnants of civiliation.
It is a testament to Goode's care and ability that one
reading from the internet can impart such shimmering
beauty.
September 11, 2007